Endless Echo
by Nicolas Crossworth
Summary: The representatives of Myouren Temple have gone to a festival, leaving one very bored Yamabiko behind. Little did they know that the moment they chose to leave was the same moment one very angry resident of Gensokyo chose the moment to visit the temple. This incident then follows a series of angry people storming the temple, Kyouko Kasodani sets out to investigate.
1. Chapter 1: Echoing Blaze

The bright orange autumn leaves that fell across the temple grounds were hastily swept by a passing broom. A lone figure was seen standing on the middle of the grounds, humming a pleasant to herself as she continued her task of keeping the path clean. Gathering the leaves around her, she soon had a large pile of dead leaves sitting near the tree from where they fell from.

Kyouko Kasodani leaned her broom against the trunk of the tree and examined her handy work. After hours of sweeping, sweeping, and sweeping, she had finally finished cleaning the temple's front making it presentable to any visitor's eyes. It was almost evening, and Shou would have probably made dinner by then. The yamabiko girl flapped her ears in anticipation. Nothing could hit the spot other than a well-earned supper before going to bed.

Working for hours was tiring, and seeing that she had training tomorrow only gave her more reasons to eat as much as she could. It was already autumn but Kyouko could still remember the first day she went to work in the temple and how she got beaten up by a rampaging shrine maiden.

It was to be expected, after all. Getting off the wrong foot with the Red-White was a common occurrence among both humans and youkai alike in Gensokyo. Kyouko sighed and a strand of her bright teal hair fell across her face. Irritated, she quickly blew it back into place.

She was bored, and she still had no idea on when their next gig will be.

It was understandable for Mystia since she had a business to run, but sometimes Kyouko just want to grab the sparrow by her arm and force her to play with her. Then again, doing such a thing would be selfish. And Byakuren would be severely disappointed with her; something Kyouko didn't want. But still, it didn't get rid of the fact that she was bored as hell.

"Maybe I could go exploring for awhile," she muttered to herself as she gazed at the path leading to the Human Village, "I'm not really neglecting my duties here since I've already fulfilled them. I wonder what kind of food they have for sale!"

But that's when she remembered that supper was going to be served, and that she already planned to go to sleep once it was all over. Not only that but her body chose the time to feel all sore, especially her arms. Sweeping all day with such enthusiasm came with its annoying consequences

Gently massaging her arms to soothe the pain, Kyouko didn't notice the cold tingling sensation behind the back of her neck.

"Nue is as flat as board!" yelled a voice behind her.

"NUE IS AS FLAT AS BOARD!" echoed the yamabiko only five times louder. The poor girl felt chills run down her spine as a familiar Ghost Captain passed through her body.

"I HEARD THAT MINAMITSU!" screamed another voice from the back of the temple, yet made no attempt on apprehending the culprit herself.

A young woman wearing a white sailor's outfit succumbed to a fit of laughter while she floated in the air. Kyouko was anything but happy to see that person after what she just did. The person before her seemed human at the first sight but upon closer inspection, it was clear that she was anything but that. Minamitsu Murasa, a _Funa Yuurei_ or Ship Phantom she was known for capsizing ships back in her past days as a vengeful spirit until the High Priestess of the temple, Byakuren Hijiri subdued and saved her.

Murasa's eyes were the same teal color as Kyouko's, but her hair was as black as night. The Ghost Captain used her red neckerchief to wipe the tears from her eyes after laughing so hard. Kyouko wondered how ghosts could have tears, but she never really had the courage or patience to ask Murasa since they weren't exactly the best of friends. Murasa had a bright youthful face despite her semi-transparent skin and ghostly aura; one would never guess that she was a ghost at all because of her upbeat nature.

Kyouko herself was also known for her cheery nature, but her mood tended to make a one-hundred eighty degree turn whenever the Captain was around.

"How ya doin' newbie? Everything okay?" asked Murasa with a wide Cheshire grin on her face.

"Everything was fine until you came along, thank you very much," huffed Kyouko, crossing her arms on her chest. "And you know what Lady Byakuren said about pulling pranks on me!"

"Aww, shucks, I'm just havin' a bit of fun, aye?" said Murasa as she floated around Kyouko as if she were swimming. "Now don't be so uptight and strict, we all know of 'em gigs ya have with the sparrow girl. Ya aren't as disciplined ya' self lassie, so why should good 'ol me be any different, savvy?"

"But still! You weren't allowed to pull pranks on me anymore!" fumed Kyouko, stomping her foot on the ground. Murasa on the other hand chose to ignore this and continued grinning.

The Phantom was about to reply with witty remark when a hand holding a golden ring smacked her hard on the head, sending her down to the ground.

"Dammit Ichi…" cursed Murasa before passing out.

A woman as tall as Murasa had her right hand raised as she held a golden ring all while looking absolutely irritated. She quickly stepped over Murasa and approached Kyouko, giving the yamabiko a pat on the head while asking, "Are you okay? Did she hurt you anywhere?"

"No I'm fine. It's just one of those things I have to get used to," replied Kyouko, wiping the tears filling up her eyes and forcing out a smile.

Ichirin Kumoi gave the girl a worried look as she said, "Okay then, I just wanted to make sure that you're fine. You wouldn't want some stray ectoplasm on your dress."

Kyouko raised her eyebrows at the nun's new hairstyle. Her headdress was lowered on her back, giving space for her light purple hair tied to a side pony-tail to her right. Ichirin brushed away her fringe that was covering her left eye as she glanced at the pink mass of clouds behind her back.

Kyouko wasn't surprised to see the cloud morphed in resemblance of the face of an old, bald, bearded man who seemed to be looking at Murasa's unconscious form in disgust before catching Ichirin's eye and nodding.

"Byakuren should be here at any moment," explained Ichirin while turning her gaze at the temple doors, "Funny how she's taking so long."

"Why? Is something the matter?" asked Kyouko, "Are you guys going somewhere?"

"Actually, yes. There's this festival being held at the Hakurei Shrine to celebrate the harvest," replied the nun with a smile, "The folks of the Moriya transferred it there much to Reimu's annoyance. And you know what? Byakuren and us are going there too, you can come with us if you like."

Kyouko thought about it for a moment and grimaced. She wouldn't be able to go since she needed rest for her training tomorrow. A sigh escaped her lips as she lowered her head in disappointment. Going to the festival would be nice, but then she would lack the energy for tomorrow's work.

_Maybe it would be wise to stay behind and sleep, _she thought.

"Sorry but Shou wouldn't like it if I was too tired for tomorrow's training," said Kyouko trying as hard she could to maintain the smile on her lips. "You guys go on ahead and have fun."

"But dear is that what you really want?"" asked a newcomer's voice. This time Kyouko felt a warm familiar sensation as she faced the direction of the voice.

"Lady Byakuren!" said Kyouko in her unnaturally loud voice. She yelped, clamped a hand on her mouth and smiled sheepishly at the nun beside her. Ichirin looked a bit dizzy being so near to someone so loud. The Yamabiko couldn't help it. Her voice gets loud whenever she's excited or happy, or feeling any other strong emotion. Nevertheless, Byakuren seemed to find it amusing as Kyouko ran towards her and embraced her in a tight hug.

Byakuren smiled as the teal haired Yamabiko rubber her cheek upon the magician's black dress. Kyouko lifted her head and seized up the kind monk's appearance. As always, Byakuren had her long cape behind her back which danced along with the wind's rhythm as it blew by. Like Murasa, Byakuren's appearance was similar to a young beautiful human at first sight, however she was far older than what she appeared and much, much more wise. The kind monk's hazel eyes were the same color as her long wavy hair which slowly faded into purple at the top.

"I'm also glad to see you, Kyouko," greeted Byakuren as she ruffled the Yamabiko's hair.

Kyouko immediately broke away, her face a bit red. Behind her, Ichirin was giggling while Unzan went to stare at something else. Murasa was… Still knocked out if it were possible.

The elder magician then examined Kyouko with concerned eyes, "Now, would you kindly answer my question? I'm sure you'll have more fun if you come with us. No alcohol of course."

"Ah, well you see Miss. I-I can't really neglect my duties here at the temple. Shou-san will need all the help she can get since Nazrin's gone somewhere. She'll need someone to look after her so that's why I'll stay," explained Kyouko as she shuffled her feet. "After that I'll have to study those sutras that I have to recite tomorrow and after that I—"

"There, there, it's alright. But make sure that you don't push yourself too hard now, okay?" said Byakuren, her warm smile. "Oh and by the way, Shou's having a big headache so she's staying in her room for now. I don't think that she'll be able to eat dinner with you, can you eat all alone tonight?"

"Yes!" replied Kyouko with much enthusiasm. "I'll take care of Shou-san so she'll be back on her feet by tomorrow!"

"Well, then we'll leave the temple in your hands now, Kyouko-chan," said Ichirin, "We know we can't put Nue in charge because of, uh, you know one thing or another. And with Shou out of business, you're the only one we can really rely on. Be sure to eat well or Big sister Ichirin will have to cook for you again~."

Both Kyouko and Unzan chuckled nervously while Byakuren sighed as she made a gesture to ward off evil.

"Uh, o-o-okay," said Kyouko, her face a bit blue.

"Alrighty then let's go!" exclaimed Murasa before ascending into the air. Ichirin released a sigh before waving Kyouko goodbye and following suit.

Byakuren allowed herself a couple of seconds with the Yamabiko as she patted Kyouko's hair, "We'll be back, I promise."

With that, the kindly monk kicked off the ground and followed her companions. Kyouko watched as they disappeared across the setting sun.

* * *

Night descended in the Myouren temple and everyone was asleep. Well ,except maybe for one person.

When she was finally satisfied, Kyouko rose out of her wooden bath tub and reached for her towel. Wrapping it around her body, she grabbed a smaller one and began wiping her dog-like ears dry along with her hair. Her footsteps were light and gentle so as not to awaken the sleeping tiger youkai in one of the rooms. Kyouko slid Shou Toramaru's door open and peeked inside. The blonde haired tiger youkai with black highlights was sleeping soundly.

Kyouko smiled and carefully closed the door. She then proceeded to go to her room which was at the far end of the hall. Sliding it open, she then threw her smaller towel on futon as she went to her wardrobe for some clothes. Putting on her light brown pajamas decorated with paw prints, Kyouko sat on her desk and turned on her lamp.

Kyouko's room wasn't anything grand, just a humble single room with a wardrobe, tatami flooring, her futon, and her desk. Maybe this was because she was a new addition to the temple, but hey! It was already a year past since she got there. So maybe she was falling behind the decorations department, but at least she was trying.

Kyouko turned her gaze to the poster of _Choujuu Gigaku,_ her and Mystia's band. If only the night sparrow wasn't so busy with her eel cart they could be at the Hakurei Shrine now singing their hearts out,and show Byakuren the joys of music and prove their haters wrong.

Her head hit her table with a thud before rolling from left to right. "I wanna go to the festival!" she whined, then remembered to keep her voice down.

Her heart sank as angry footsteps were making to her room followed by her door sliding open with a bang.

An angry pajama clad Shou stood at the door with groggy eyes and bed hair sticking out of her head, though the icy cold glare that came from her eyes were more than enough to send the Yamabiko hiding in the corner. "I-I-I'm sorry Shou-san, I didn't mean to wake you or anything!"

If looks could kill, then Kyouko would've been nothing but a bloody mess by now the moment Shou growled, "Kyouko… I'm very tired and I am sick of this head ache, having you cause noise in the middle of the night isn't going to help me feel any better! Now if you don't have anything better to do then lights out, young lady!" The tiger youkai raised a drunken finger at Kyouko, "One more noise. Seriously…one… more…Noizzzzzzz…."

As Shou drifted off to sleep, Kyouko had enough sense in her to catch the tiger before she hit the floor. Grunting under Shou's weight, Kyouko released a shaky breath.

"Oh well, it could've been worst."

Kyouko suppressed a yelp as Shou uttered a growl before mumbling off to sleep again. With a sigh of relief Kyouko supported Shou on her shoulder as she went to place the youkai back into her own room. Kyouko had to use her feet to slide the door open without allowing Shou to fall from her arms. With the last remains of the Yamabiko's strength, Kyouko allowed Shou to fall on her futon with her arm above her head and her belly button exposed.

Kyouko pondered if it was okay to leave her teacher in an indecent position. With another sigh, she fixed Shou's position before tucking the tiger behind a snow white blanket. Closing the room's door behind her Kyouko was about to go back to her room when she heard a noise.

Kyouko's ears floppy ears swung up in surprise. She stood frozen as she heard the sound of footsteps come from the temple grounds.

Soon, she broke into a sprint towards her room. Slamming the sliding door open, she quickly made her way towards her wardrobe and hastily changed. Once she was dressed in her usual clothes, she thundered down the hall to check up on Shou. Thankfully the tiger youkai was still there and asleep. Pulling a pair of mufflers she received as a gift from the Taoists, she gently placed them on the tiger's ears to muffle the sounds.

After that, Kyouko made her way to the temple grounds. The cold evening air went to greet her as soon as she was out. She grabbed her bamboo broom that stood at the side and went to investigate the source of the noise.

What Kyouko saw surprised at the temple's storehouse surprised her. She was met with the back of a young woman with pale lavender hair filled with red paper charms. She had a pair of baggy pants filled with the same paper charms on her hair, and an ash white buttoned shirt filled with burn marks. This girl struck Kyouko as an imposing figure, a head taller than her and radiating great yet mysterious power.

Kyouko's heard of this girl before. _Why was she here in the temple, of all places?! Shouldn't she be a long way from here at that creepy bamboo forest?_

Her fears were confirmed as Fujiwara no Mokou turned to face her.

The immortal's face was emotionless, and merely raised her eye brows at Kyouko's presence. "Oh, you… Didn't expect you to show up that fast."

_Huh? What is she talking about,_ thought Kyouko but aloud she said, "Uh, hey! You're not allowed to be there! Don't you know that store house is Myouren Temple's property?"

"Yeah, so? And here I was thinking that I had to burn the place down to flush you out," said Mokou dispassionately.

Kyouko cringed at the immortal's tone. She didn't know if taking Mokou alone would be enough to stop her, and with Shou's headache, she doubted that the tiger youkai would be of any help. Nue and Mamizou were surely at the festival, so Kyouko couldn't count on them for help. As much as it sucked, she was all alone.

"Well, uh, what you're doing is bad! Don't you know that stealing is bad?!" yelled Kyouko in a defiant tone, in contrast with what she was experiencing within her.

"Hmph, I'm not here for this junk," said Mokou tossing the antique in her hand back into the store house. "I'm here for you…"

The immortal's hands burst into flames.

_AH,AH,AH,AHHHHHHH! I'M GONNA DIE!Wait no, focus Kyouko. Focus! Now keep calm and run like—No! I have to resolve this in a peaceful manner. Just like Byakuren. I may not know why she's so angry with me but I could at least try asking,_ keeping her panic under control, Kyouko said, "Wh-what do you want with me? What did I ever do to you? I've been a loyal priest in training here in Myouren temple and I haven't hurt anyone in my life! Well maybe except for those fairies at the concert, but still! They were fairies! Please, can't—can't we settle this in a peaceful manner?"

The Yamabiko's heart skipped a beat as the flames in Mokou's hands grew smaller and smaller till nothing remained. A wave of relief washed over Kyouko, she couldn't wait to tell this to Mystia. Then Mokou's hands reignited in new fury causing Kyouko's blood to freeze in fear.

This time, Mokou's eyes were filled with irritation and in a cold voice in contrast to her flames, said, "You're annoying."

With that, the immortal leapt towards the Yamabiko girl with her flaming hands.

* * *

_The Strongest Music Cue's presents: Welcome to the youkai temple~ by monochrome coat -looped-_

Kyouko yelped as she kicked off the ground to avoid Mokou's flaming fists only to dodge the fireballs the immortal sent as a follow up. It only seemed that the immortal was indeed annoyed with her and bore no intention to kill, so Kyouko responded in kind by spraying her with Danmaku. Mokou side stepped the first wave and ascended in a fiery pillar, summoning blue and purple amulets to attack.

"Aiiee!" Kyouko had to back flip in mid-air to dodge the incoming amulet aimed for her head. _She's serious…_

Mokou was closing in, her goal to be in pointblank range so she could end the fight quickly. The Yamabiko girl dodged a second wave of amulets and peppered Mokou with more Danmaku. The immortal flew past her like a blazing star, causing her to shield her eyes from the embers that Mokou left behind.

The Yamabiko girl and the immortal were now on the same altitude. Kyouko with her broom and Mokou sprouting two flaming wings behind her back, her eyes filled with irritation as if Kyouko were an eyesore. The Yamabiko girl was trying to convince her to stop this battle, convinced that it'd work this time!

"Look, I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry okay?" she amended in her loud voice, "Please, I don't want to fight. So why don't we just go home and get some good night's sleep—"

A fireball missed her by a hairsbreadth. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

The next moment Mokou was grabbing her by the collar, lifting Kyouko up. "Geez, you just like hearing yourself talk don't cha'? How can I get myself a good night's sleep with all the racket you've been making the past months, huh?!"

The immortal vigorously tossed Kyouko to the side; fortunately the Yamabiko was still in flight, feeling her throat.

"Look here kid, I'm old. Very old and my patience is near endless. But you and your stupid bird friend have to go wrecking the serenity of my night with all of your…your…NOISE!" Mokou pulled a spellcard from her pocket. "Congratulations, you and your bird friend are the first two people to annoy me to this extent other than Kaguya."

_Calm down Kyouko, don't lose your cool. _But Kyouko couldn't find her peace of mind. That person came to the temple in the middle of the night proceeded to harass her all for a stupid reason. She couldn't let that person get away with this, couldn't she? But then that would be going against Byakuren's words of avoiding violence.

"Why are you doing this?! It doesn't have to be this way you know, you big bully!" yelled Kyouko as the immortal raised her spellcard.

"Shut your trap, kiddo'. Let's settle this with a good old fashioned duel!" the spellcard in Mokou's hand began to shine, "I hope this fight will finally make you shut up. Fujiwara~Flaw of Forgiving Shrine!"

And then it rained amulets.

Kyouko gritted her teeth and with a determined look, charged head first to the immortal. She dodged the blue and purple amulets by alternately flying left to right before shooting off east. Mokou moved her body so that her spell was aimed at Kyouko, but the Yamabiko was simply too fast. After forcing Mokou to spin around, destroying and creating craters on the temple grounds, Kyouko flew high up into the air, almost as high as the temple itself.

Spreading her arms beside her she broke into a dive. Passing by all of the amulets at a great speed while being aided by gravity, Kyouko had the briefest moment to see Mokou's body still facing the sky. With a smirk, the Yamabiko landed on her feet a few feet behind Mokou's open back. Fewer amulets were aimed behind the immortal so Kyouko was smart enough to consider it as a safe spot.

Before Mokou could even realize what happened, Kyouko released an volley of red Danmaku, allowing them to float in the air before with shouting with all of her might. The Danmaku, even those of Mokou's spellcards suddenly changed directions and went for the immortal.

Miniature fireworks blew up in the place as the Danmaku hit Mokou all over. Kyouko using her power of reflecting sound waves prevented the Danmaku from going too far and kept them aimed and bouncing towards Mokou.

The Yamabiko girl had enough sense in her to know that this was far from over. Mokou was an immortal, as frail as her boy seemed to be, she would resurrect. And sure enough, moments later Mokou took to the air once more, glaring at the Yamabiko flying above her.

But before she can even declare as spellcard, Kyouko was way ahead of her. "Echo sign~ Power Resonance!"

Red Danmaku began to bop within a closed invisible space before Kyouko, bouncing on and off the invisible walls before launching themselves at high speeds in random directions. Mokou had a split second to analyze the situation before she started dodging. Kyouko began charging her attack once more, leaving her open. Or at least that was what Mokou thought.

"Hey kid, eat this!" said the immortal as she launched a stream of flames towards Kyouko.

The Yamabiko girl opened her eyes and launched her bullets. The red Danmaku collided with the flaming pillar, cancelling each other out. Mokou was far from finished as she lifted her arms into the air, causing a swirl of flames to circle on the ground below Kyouko.

Kyouko yelped and tried escape when she was blocked off by a firewall. She then realized that she was in the heart of a flaming tornado with nowhere to run. Mokou was just outside the tornado as it roared to life, brief gaps appearing among the flames and she saw Kyouko floating in mid-air while still holding her broom.

Caged and trapped, Kyouko didn't know what to do. A few moments later, purple and blue Danmaku launched from the tornado's walls, forcing Kyouko to dodge while avoid the walls themselves. Outside, Mokou was hurling her amulets at the tornado, which transformed into balls of light the moment they hit.

"Hmph, it's over. Suzaku's funeral ~ Flaming Romance," she muttered while glaring at the tornado she created.

The flaming pillar dissipated and Kyouko fell to the ground barely conscious. Mokou glided her way towards her fallen opponent, her wings disappearing as she stared down at Kyouko. "I hope you learn your lesson kid. Not everyone likes music. Heck, I don't even know if the things you shout about are music. Suffice to say I've seen—guk!"

The wooden end of Kyouko's broom buried itself into Mokou's stomach, causing the immortal to double over. With one swift and fluid motion, the immortal was swept of her feet, literally. Mokou hit the ground with a jarring force applied to her back.

"Why you—gah!" Mokou was sent sliding on the floor where she used the momentum to stand up again.

"Mountain Echo~ Amplify Echo," screamed Kyouko. Thrusting her palm forward, waves of Danmaku shot from Kyouko's back and sides, startling Mokou a bit. She watched as Kyouko's Danmaku disappearing into the distance only to return as big red orbs of death in neat vertical and horizontal lines closing on her.

Panic caused Mokou to stomp on the ground and fly out of the lines of fire. Looking around her, she realized that the orbs materialized around her and were flying towards her once more. This time she kept her cool as she recognized both the bullets and the pattern. She allowed the bullets to graze her as they approached. Mokou felt the slight rush of energy fill her as the bullets neared her.

Once the bullets were away and as Kyouko was firing the next wave, Mokou raised a spellcard and declared it:

"Immortal~ Fire Bird -Flying Phoenix-!"

The immortal swung her free arm at Kyouko and a blazing phoenix formed out of thin air, flying towards her opponent. Plowing down the giant orbs as if they were nothing. Kyouko immediately zipped to her right to dodge. However it seemed that the phoenix it grew bigger in every second that passed, causing its wings to burn Kyouko's sleeve while passing by.

Mokou thrust another arm out and another phoenix was summoned. It found the time to utter a haunting melody as Kyouko flew to evade it. Another phoenix flew and the Yamabiko girl saw the immortal curl her body into a ball, all before spreading her arms and releasing three phoenixes at once accompanied by fireballs.

"Grrr, you just love making my life miserable, huh!?" screamed Kyouko, as she grazed a fireball and a phoenix wing.

It hurt. Kyouko had never experienced an intense battle like that before; not even if her fight with the Red-White and her cronies was that harsh. Kyouko kept dodging and dodging and dodging through all the fire balls. She didn't care if she got burned. She didn't care if she got hit. All she wanted was to show that crazy woman above her that she and Mystia could make good music. Good music that everyone liked.

Kyouko performed a barrel roll as a bullet passed her by. Smoke and wind, coming from the blazing fires that surrounded her caused the Yamabiko girl's eyes to sting and water. A phoenix was headed her way and yet Kyouko refused to slow down.

Mokou's eyes widened as the teal haired girl collided with the immortal bird. Did she push the girl too far?

The immortal's breath was taken from her as a smoking figure burst from the phoenix's body. Kyouko gripped her broom with both hands and with one mighty swing to the midsection, launched Mokou back first into Myouren temple. Kyouko's clothes were blackened and her long pink blouse was now seared off her left shoulder, revealing her charcoaled white dress under it. Kyouko wasted no time waiting and charged at the hole the immortal made on the building.

There she saw Mokou rising to her feet while rubbing the back of her head. Watching the immortals eyes widen, Kyouko peppered her with Danmaku that sent her flying through the temple once more. Lowering her head for a moment, Kyouko took her time to catch her breath. She was going to be in so much trouble for this. Kyouko tensed as she heard a noise nearby. Glancing to her side she saw Shou's peaceful sleeping face, completely unaware of the battle around her, thanks to the muffles on her ears. At least Kyouko didn't have to deal with an angry tiger youkai.

Kyouko ran through the holes Mokou made and headed for the ominous orange light at the far end. When she reached the final hole she saw Mokou standing on the graves, absolutely ticked off. Surrounding the immortal were…dragons?

Two fiery serpents fifty meters long snaked their way to the sky in a corkscrew pattern. The two of them straightened their flaming bodies up before glaring down at Kyouko with their fury filled gaze as their maws opened. Below them, Mokou had her hands in her pockets as a smirk decorated her face. She enjoyed to see the look of terror on the little upstart's face.

"This kid…" muttered Mokou over the roaring winds and hot air around her, "Has some potential…"

The immortal merely watched as Kyouko stepped back a few paces into the temple, all before jumping off the hole and flying straight for her. "Get her!" she commanded and the two serpents obliged.

Kyouko swallowed all of her fears and flew at the immortal at breakneck speed. She saw the dragons loop and head towards her at the speed of a moving truck. _These guys… Are nothing more than leaves in the temple grounds… They… They just want to ruin its beauty!_

The dragons roared and opened their maws as they let loose a jet of orange fire. Kyouko narrowed her eyes and flew around the flames, looping around them and flying on. Kyouko shot up into the air, just in time for a dragon's jaw to snap on the area on where she was a few seconds ago. The dragons were hot on her tail. The Yamabiko breathed in a shaky breath before deactivating her ability to fly. From above she looked like a wingless angel, whose silhouette was captured by the moon.

With her head now facing the ground and the dragons, let her body fall towards them.. Kyouko passed by the dragons with the speed of a Danmaku bullet, and the second dragon made the mistake of attempting to chomp her only to result to biting the first dragon's body.

_Miss Byakuren told me to take good care of the temple while she was out and…._ In her mind, she imagined the kind monk cheering her on, _I'm not going to let anyone ruin it! I'm going to sweep you all away like the leaves you are! _

Mokou took five steps back as Kyouko landed in front of her, the ground cracking under the Yamabiko's feet. Kyouko swung her broom only to miss as Mokou dodged. Mokou retaliated with a burning fist which was caught Kyouko's broom, causing her to slide back a few feet. Not allowing Kyouko to recover, Mokou closed in on her and took the air once more allowing her wings to spread while sending a powerful kick to the Yamabiko's head.

Kyouko made an attempt to block, but her broom could only take so much strain and shattered within her grasp. Landing on her feet, Mokou sent another burning fist at Kyouko, which connected with her cheek sending her flying.

Mokou watched as the Yamabiko crashed against a grave stone.

Kyouko's head was spinning. She's losing badly. She wanted to cry out for Byakuren, only to remember that the monk was nowhere near her. She was on her own. She couldn't even rely on Nue, Ichirin, or even Murasa.

No one was coming to help her. Sure she had her fair share of beatings in the past. But that was then. She expected a whole lot more from herself now that she was older. True that she didn't like fighting, but she at least expected herself to be stronger. But no, she was weak. And weak youkais get beaten by stronger beings. That's what she was…Weak…

The Yamabiko girl forced an arm under her and made an attempt to push herself off the ground. But then a foot connected with her back, causing her to taste the soil once more.

"You sure are one tough nut to crack. I came here for a massacre but then it ended up turning into a brawl," said Mokou's voice.

With her head facing the side, Kyouko could see Mokou's lavender hair hanging at the edge of her vision.

"You should be proud, girly," the immortal went on, "You managed to come this far, but then again you weren't strong enough. But it was a good match nonetheless, the second behind Reimu's."

Kyouko groaned as the forced behind her back increased, threatening to crush her spine.

"Actually I don't have against you personally, it's just that your 'music' as you call it is just plain annoying," continued Mokou, "I know that you're going to act all stubborn while saying 'My music isn't annoying' but this fight would've happened anyway. This situation was just a foregone conclusion."

_The Strongest Music fades out! Replace it with: One Winged Angel-looped_

Kyouko was breathing heavily now. Her eyes were welling up in tears. She started to shake all over.

"Hmph, it's bad enough that Kaguya enjoys your 'music'. Or maybe she just has poor taste in the stuff. Well whatever, your constant racket has been disturbing the Human Village the past nights so consider yourself lucky that I'm the one who came for you and not Reimu. If it was her, then you'd be exterminated right here, right now," Mokou put her entire weight on Kyouko's back, "Ah, one last thing… Your song sucked…."

Kyouko stopped trembling. Mokou raised her eyebrows at the reaction but then scowled as Kyouko asked in a low voice, "What did you say..?"

"I said your music sucked, so?"

Kyouko inhaled a deep breath before asking once more, "What did you say..?"

"Oi, don't play deaf, I said your music sucked, what part of that can't you understand?"

"I…can't hear you…"

"I said Your Music Sucked!"

"**I!"**

Mokou was lifted into the air as Kyouko shot up from the ground. The immortal's crimson eyes had enough time to see Kyouko's body twist in mid-air to face her.

"**Said!" **screamed the Yamabiko girl through tear filled eyes. Her voice was so powerful that the force of it caused Mokou's body to dig three feet into the ground. The immortal grunted and gritted her teeth as she forced her legs and arms to move in order to get up, but found out that Kyouko was far from finished.

Inhaling a lungful of air, Kyouko scream with all of her might, **"YOUR. MUSIC. SUCKED!"**

Mokou was met with three consecutive blasts of sound waves, causing her body to press against the ground from the force and her ears to bleed from the noise. Still it didn't hurt her in anyway other than causing her some difficulty in breathing and being restricted from moving away from the ground due to the titanic force.

Kyouko landed on her feet, breathing heavily as she watched Mokou get up from the crater.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, that was…freaky," whimpered Mokou as she clutched her bleeding ears. Her eyes then met with Kyouko's feet, until her gaze slowly view the Yamabiko's form. "huh?"

Kyouko lifted a Spellcard in front of her and whispered, "Choujuu Gigaku~ Dance of Bird and beast."

The Spellcard glowed and Mokou found herself trapped within an invisible barrier, Kyouko just outside watching her. She placed a hand on the barrier and shouted, "Hey!"

_**HEY**_

_**HEY**_

_**HEY**_

_**HEY**_

Mokou clamped her palms at the sides of her head, her own voice resonating in her ears. "What the—?"

And then the inside of the barrier was filled with Danmaku. Mokou was pushed against the barrier's edge with nothing to do than take the random hits that were around her. It stung, it hurt, and lights were all around! Yellow, orange, red, blue, colors filled her vision till she was numb from the pain. And yet Kyouko still didn't command the barrier to disappear. It was too much. More than she could take. It was like an endless assault of the Black-White's beam of love, only much more concentrated.

And then everything was quiet. Kyouko moved towards Mokou's smoking form as she lied on her back, staring at the purple sky above.

_She's immortal; she'll live,_ thought Kyouko as she knelt down to move the strand of hair across the immortal's face.

With a sigh, Kyouko said, "You are banned from coming to the temple. You broke eighteen temple rules during your stay as a guest, which is more than enough reason for me to ban you. Please leave now."

Kyouko watched as Mokou slowly got up on her feet, rubbing her head and dusting her pants. Kyouko stood up likewise her eyes never breaking eye contact.

"You're pretty strong, kiddo," commented Mokou while putting her hands in her pockets. "You said that you don't like fighting, but I think all of that was bull. You're pretty good at it, and your song was too."

Kyouko's face flushed red.

"When you shouted to prove me wrong, I heard a soothing voice under all of that rage," continued the immortal, "I found you annoying maybe because you were just off key, but girl, you have some deep potential."

The person who fought with her carrying all that spite against her music was now praising her. _Maybe this crazy human was just a hypocrite_, thought Kyouko.

"Deep inside, there's a spark in you waiting to be unleashed. Like I said you have potential, and I have all time in the world to see that spark in you burst into flames and become a raging fire," Mokou's face broke into a grin, "Well, I'll be very disappointed if you happen to die without knowing what you have hidden in you. This battle we had is nothing compared to the fights I have with Kaguya, usually it has more craters and blood on the ground but you get the point."

"Which is?" asked Kyouko, her throat unexpectedly sore so her voice came out hoarse.

"I'm immortal and I'll be remembering this fight for eternity," replied Mokou as she turned to leave, "Don't want others to hear about it? A Yamabiko facing against a Hourai Immortal and standing victorious? Now isn't that a story for your kind to remember? Well, I wouldn't tell it to Kaguya, but hey, it's my shame and you should be proud of this."

"I-I never really thought about it that way…."

"What's your name kid?"

"Kyouko, Kyouko Kasodani,"

"Well then Kyouko. Since you've banned me here, I guess this is good bye. Take care kid it was good battle!"

Kyouko could only stare and wave back as the firebird flew towards the direction of the Bamboo of the Lost. Two words escaped her lips before she went inside the temple, "Crazy Human."

* * *

"Well now Ran, wasn't that fantastic?"

"I don't know lady Yukari, the two of them looked pretty banged up. Are you sure that they'll be okay?"

"The Human's an immortal and the other girl is a Youkai. Now Ran dear, pay up."

High above the Myouren temple, two individuals were spying on the aftermath of the battle. These individuals were behind a dimensional rift known as a gap, and were currently handing each other money as if they had made a bet.

The first seemed to be a woman in her early thirties and had a long flowing blonde hair decorated with red ribbons. Her violet Chinese-style tabard matched perfectly with the purple world behind her, although the background seemed to contrast itself from her western styled dress. A thin white mop cap with a thin red ribbon sat on her head.

The second individual was a woman between the ages of twenty to twenty five, with nine golden tails swaying behind her back. Her golden eyes and her short yellow hair were almost identical to the person beside her, almost making her look like the older one's daughter if not for her tails. On her head was what seemed to be a two tailed jester's hat filled with amulets. Her face expressed nothing but disappointment as she handed her purse to the other woman who laughed gleefully behind a white fan.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Ran dear," said the purple woman while weighing the purse in her hands. "hmm, I wonder how much you saved up here."

"Umm, Yukari-sama? Shouldn't we do something about that?" asked Ran while pointing at the damage and wreckage scattered across Myouren Temple.

"About what, Ran?" asked Yukari in turn , and with a wave of her hand the damages disappeared. Holes were repaired, craters were filled, and broken objects were put back to place, Ran could only sigh at her master's behavior.

"Hmm ,I think we've stayed here long enough. Come now Ran time to go," she said with a smile on her face.

"Yes, master….Ouch!" Ran quickly shut the gap close after receiving a hit from the back with an umbrella. It was as if they weren't there in the first place.

* * *

Kyouko landed face first into her futon. She didn't care anymore. She was too tired to worry about the damages; maybe she could make up an excuse for what happened last night just to shut the incoming complaints off. Shou's going to be pissed. Still Kyouko needed sleep, and sleep is what she would do.

The soft fabric of her blanket brushing against her cheek, Kyouko slowly drifted into sleep. She couldn't wait to tell Nazrin and the others about that night.

"Kyouko wake up!" yelled Shou barging into the Yamabiko's room and pulling her blanket away. Kyouko stared at her teacher who said, "Come on, you're up all night doing stupid things again didn't you? Well nothing like a morning stretch and meditation to clear your wits of sleep. Now double time, chop chop, get your butt of there and get changed! Let's start the morning right!"

In contrast to the tiger youkai's energetic wake up call, Kyouko slumped back into her futon as the tiger youkai disappeared. She hated her life….

And so another day began in the Myouren Temple.

* * *

_Nicolas Notes:_

_I'm back from the deaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!_

_And I present you this pet project I've been working on. This baby here was born while listening to the first song presented in this fic. I just thought to myself "So, freaking badass" And then I went to imagine some fight scenes with little Kyouko her and then this was born! _

_I had trouble on finding out who was going to be her first opponent and ended up with Mokou. Seriously, don't ask how she got there... I still ask myself that question up to now. If you're waiting for the Laevateinn chapter to update, I apologize for the wait, but just a few more days and it'll be up and running. I already have two more chapters waiting so maybe I can update regularly for three weeks?_

_Anyhow, the reason that I made this fic was for shits and giggles. _

_I just wanted to see how a character like Kyouko could adapt to the battle field. Heh._

_Yes I have a plot, and I think this fic will be running up to six chapters. The second chapter is still in the works. In my head._

_Those who are waiting for the 4:95 to update would be glad since I finally got the second chapter out! All I have to do is clean it a bit. Heh._

_Many many many thanks to KaiserDude and Winged Ikaros for proof reading. _

_See ya all next time, YAHOO~!_


	2. Chapter 2: Symphonic Wings of Rock

The sky was dark and the full moon was out, a girl sat on a rock as she slept peacefully. Flowers swayed along the hymn of winds, clouds raced past each other in their never ending game. All was well and quiet in this time of peace. Or at least that was what Tenshi thought.

The blue haired celestial jerked awake in an attempt to dodge a lightning bolt in her sleep. Tenshi Hinanawi slid off her rock and spun around. Apparently having a trigger happy Oarfish as her tutor was not healthy her sanity, she starting to get paranoid. Tenshi blinked twice before placing a hand on her head. A sigh escaped her lips as she picked up her black hat.

She turned her gaze southwards to where she heard the rumblings that woke her. From high above the clouds she can hear the distant rumblings and explosions of an ongoing battle. Her eyes widened as a flaming serpent bobbed its head above a cloud before going down.

_What are those people doing now?_ She thought, apparently interested. She had half of her mind made up to go to source of the commotion but thought better of it. Iku would be on to her like Reimu to money, which was saying something...

"And I heard there was a festival at the Shrine too," muttered Tenshi as she gazed at the lights and bangs. Strange how the brawl was happening at the south when the Shrine was on the east.

The Celestial was forbidden to go out until she had finished the tasks Iku had given her, if she somehow went through a whole without causing trouble then that's the only time she was allowed out. Tenshi smirked, easy as cake. She supposed that if she was a good girl tomorrow then she could be a bad girl all she wanted the day after tomorrow. But then she was faced with the problem of what she was going to do.

Her release hadn't even started and now she was beginning to get bored. Heck, she was already bored ever since she woke up. A breeze blew by and her hat was carried away along with it. Tenshi only noticed it a second too late before running after it. "Hey comeback!" she called with her right arm outstretched.

She gritted her teeth; running in a dress was always a pain. _Wait, I can fly, _with that knowledge re-established, Tenshi kicked off the ground and flew after her hat.

The Celestial let out a triumphant laugh as she grabbed her hat, landing on the earth once more and placing the hat on her head. She crossed her arms on her flat chest and nodded to no one in particular as if expecting applause.

"A magnificent display of flight by no other than Tenshi Hinanawi, queen of the skies!" declared Tenshi striking a pose. When it was clear that no one was praising her, she allowed her shoulders to fall as she slumped forward. No one ever took her seriously, queen of the skies indeed.

"Oh what is this? A Celestial experiencing melancholy? And here I thought Heaven was a place of joy and laughter," said a voice followed by a fit of giggling.

Tenshi clenched her fists and turned to face the stranger. "Who are you?" she asked through narrow eyes.

"Oh my, hot blooded aren't you?" said the stranger, its voice rather feminine and elegant, so Tenshi figured that it was a female.

The stranger wore a dark cloak over a black robe, a scarf keeping her face hidden while a large black top hat sat on her head. A silver cane was pushed on the ground as she leaned on it. Tenshi has never seen this person before so why this woman would be seeking her?

"Sorry but Heaven's closed now and everyone's sleeping. So if you want your weather forecast tomorrow then I suggest going to the Human Village waaaayyy, over there," Tenshi pointed somewhere southeast as she went on, "But that doesn't seem to be the reason, no?"

"Fascinating, nonetheless from the Child of Heaven," said the stranger as she spread her arms. "But of course you're right. As much as I want to know whether it will be sunny or rainy tomorrow, I do have other businesses to attend, namely you."

Tenshi looked puzzled and blinked twice, "And what would that be?"

"Spending the rest of your days in Heaven could prove very boring, no?" said the stranger as she made her way towards a tree filled with peaches.

The Celestial placed a hand on her hip and replied, "You don't know the half of it. The people on Earth make this place something like a paradise. I mean it is one, but it certainly lacks the hook that keeps it interesting, if you catch my drift."

"Indeed. And you must be bored out of your mind with nothing to do," said the stranger, placing an gentle hand on a peach, "So much potential, only to be left untouched and unused. Don't you think it is such a waste of your abilities?"

The blue haired girl's eyes lit up at that, "I know right? I mean I should be going around places, meeting new people, and doing lots of other things but here I am, sitting at the top of the world with nothing to do. I mean, yeah, this place is great and all but it does have its shortcomings. Not even Heaven has everything people imagine."

"A restless soul such as yours has no place among the ones living here. Though as different as you are, you belong here, now that is a fact. But it seems that even then you should not be restricted on doing things as you please."

"What are you getting at?" questioned Tenshi with an eyebrow raised.

The stranger grabbed a peach and bit off a small chunk of it, "I'm offering you entertainment..."

"What? What kind of entertainment?" Tenshi's eyes widened in alarm. A stream of thoughts racing across her mind all at the same time, "Uh, it might get me in trouble you know? And don't think Reimu will have it lightly if something bad were to happen."

"Oh no, nothing of the sort as creating an incident. You already did that and we all know how that ended," said the stranger as she took another bite off the peach, "Don't you worry, there's just this interesting person that you would really like to battle. And before something weird pops up in your mind, no, it's not an assassination mission. Just a duel between two people."

The stranger tossed the peach into the air before catching it, "So what do you say? Endless Boredom or an Interesting Game?"

* * *

A dove flew over Myouren Temple, its feathers left behind during its flight. The feathers carried by the wind glided into the window of the meditation room where a certain Yamabiko sat in deep concentration while in the Lotus Position.

Kyouko Kasodani inhaled a lungful of air as she gathered her thoughts, compiling and organizing them as she searched for the answer on why Nue's cooking was so good. Despite her attitude and looks, Nue's 'Western-styled' breakfast that she served that morning was a knock out. Kyouko could still taste the sweetness of her orange juice and softness of the bread Nue made herself while said girl was in an apron telling the Yamabiko, "Kyouko, time for breakfast~"

A smile crept across Kyouko's face as she breathed in once more. It was then a sudden itch appeared on her nose, and not a moment too soon, Kyouko sneezed.

_Oh no..._ she thought as a shadow formed in front of her in the appearance of a tall woman.

Right beside her, a bead of sweat travelled down the mouse youkai, Nazrin's, face. Seeing that she can find no assistance from her friend, Kyouko resigned to her fate.

"Kasodani Kyouko!" roared Shou followed by the sound of slapping echoing in the wooden room.

"**KASODANI KYOUKO!"** screamed the Yamabiko with enough force to create a hole on the wall.

Shou held a hand on her face and sighed, a large paper fan held on her right as she did her best to overlook the damage. A ten foot statue of Bishamonten that sat before them lost its head which sailed through the newly formed wall behind it. Nazrin stared at the hole with a blank expression while Kyouko could only gawk at the damage she had caused.

"You know what to do..." muttered Shou as she walked away shaking her head.

"Yes," was Kyouko's only reply as she walked the other way with her head low.

Just another morning at Myouren...

...

"Alright, I'm going to fix this wall if it's the last thing I do! So let's get fixing!" cheered Kyouko raising a wooden mallet above her head.

The Temple of Myouren, built by the gods of Moriya Shrine for the High Priestess Byakuren Hijiri shortly after her revival. The temple was built in a strange way, since a giant mast was acting as the temple's main body with a few more buildings stood around it. Nevertheless, the ship housed the center of worship in which the High Priestess meditated and prayed. The name of the boat was the Palanquin Ship before it transformed into a temple. Byakuren supposedly built the ship in order to gain Minamitsu Murasa's trust, at least that's what the stories say.

Kyouko struck a wooden nail on the beam to hold it in place. Wiping sweat from her forehead, the Yamabiko hummed to herself a cheerful tune as she went to her stack of supplies to retrieve another wooden beam. She then set to work in repairing her damage. As she worked, her thoughts drifted away from her task in someplace else. It's been four days since that immortal visited the temple. As crazy as that woman was the more stories Kyouko found about her the more she realized that Mokou was actually a good person at heart despite her mysterious attitude.

_A Yamabiko besting an immortal. Ugh, what am I thinking? This can't be good for my ego..._ she thought as a sigh escaped her lips. She then resumed her humming.

Another strange thing that she noticed was the damages from the fight. Kyouko glanced behind her to see the well tended and clean temple grounds with no trace of craters or broken statues in sight. Now she felt that it was just plain creepy, like everything was just a bad dream.

Kyouko ceased her hammering and stared at her hands. It wasn't a dream and she knew it. All of it felt so real, the pain, the desperation, the adrenaline. It wasn't like anything she felt before. Kyouko set her face straight and continued her work. At the very least she won't have to do something so intense ever again.

Kyouko went back to her supplies and thanked a man wearing a green flat cap and glasses. Her spine stiffening, the Yamabiko spun around in alarm just to see familiar light-brown haired bespectacled woman waving a hand at her.

Mamizou Futatsuiwa, resident _Tanuki _of the Myouren Temple and woman currently holding the title of having the largest tail in Gensokyo slowly walked towards Kyouko with a smile on her face. She had the appearance of a woman nearing her early thirties with a rather good natured personality radiating from her. Mamizou had a hand on her hip as she dusted off dirt from her ecru shirt and red-gray skirt. Kyouko never saw her without the bottle of sake tied to her waist along with her booklet of promissory notes.

"Yo~, tough morning?" she asked as she lifted a pail of paint and placed it right beside the wall Kyouko was fixing. "I heard the whole thing, Shou's cranky as ever. It's not like I can blame her though, Byakuren chose the bad time to be sick, and that of a tiger idiot's going out of her mind with worry."

The Yamabiko's ears drooped at the reminder of what happened to Byakuren. Shortly after the festival at the Hakurei Shrine, the High Priestess was rushed to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost due to a severe hang over after being challenged by two Onis that went with the names Yuugi Hoshiguma and Suika Ibuki. In her quest to meet and befriend as many people as she can, Byakuren had so foolishly accepted a challenge into a sake drinking contest (she was already heavily intoxicated at that time) and lost by her eighth bottle.

The High Priestess' guards were too busy partying themselves to notice the contest and prevent Byakuren from committing acts against her faith. The two Onis were dealt with by an angry _Nyuudo_ and a very pissed tiger youkai while Mamizou comforted the tearful monk.

"Lady Byakuren told me that she'll be fine, so I think there's no use on worrying over something that doesn't need to be worried about," said Kyouko, her smile growing back as her ears flapped up and down. Mamizou nodded in agreement as she too smiled.

"Well, I can tell you that there isn't really anything wrong with her health," said Mamizou, "Though her mind is... A bit different. It seems like she took the sake thing a little bit too far. The Alien Doctor said that she'll just have to stay for her therapies and she'll be back out again. I gotta tell you this though, that when she goes out, don't try as much as mentioning sake or else she'll flip. "

Kyouko gave Mamizou a salute, "Gotcha!"

"Anyhow, speaking of Byakuren. She just gave me a message to pass on to you."

"Huh, really?" said Kyouko, "What is it?"

"'Have the day off' that's what she said," relayed Mamizou lifting her glasses up her eyes.

Kyouko blinked twice as she tried to register what the Tanuki just said. In her confusion she asked, "Excuse me?"

"Day off, take a break, off with your socks and relax, you know the time where you can do whatever the hell you like," replied Mamizou as she defined the phrase. "Seriously if I didn't know, you're over working yourself, and that _cannot_ be good for your cute looks." She then grabbed Kyouko by her cheek and squeezed it.

"Knock it off!" groaned the Yamabiko swatting her hand away.

"So yeah, I say you let my boys handle the damages and I'll explain the rest to Shou while you go traipsing to the Human Village for that gig you're planning this weekend," said Mamizou, taking away the wooden mallet from Kyouko's hands and straightening the Yamabiko's clothes. "Big sister Mami will handle everything."

Rubbing her cheek, Kyouko looked at Mamizou in surprise, "R-Really? You're going to that for me?"

"Not for free of course," answered the Tanuki with a mischievous smile, "This is going to cost you extra along with the ticket handling with your concert. So that'll make 3.33 for the three of us each if we divide it normally, but seeing that this'll cost a bit more Yen then I'll say—"

"Okay, okay, okay you get your money," cut off Kyouko followed by a nervous chuckle, "Just, no wait. Please everything ready by then, it'd be a shame not to show up after the tickets got sold."

"I hear ya. Wouldn't want refunds haunting my dreams tonight," agreed Mamizou. Then she adopted a thoughtful look before hugging Kyouko, "Aw hell, what am I thinking? You're the best money maker this girl could ever have. I'll cut you some slack and won't charge for the extra. It's on the house!"

"Um, thanks?"

Mamizou grabbed the Yamabiko by both of her shoulders and led her out of the Temple's back, into the grounds. Kyouko caught the sound of muffled cries from one of the trees and found Shou hanging feet first while tied up from head to toe. She glared at Kyouko, followed by a mix of muffled cries for help and unintelligible words of anger for the woman behind the Yamabiko. Mamizou steered Kyouko outside the gate as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Now Kyouko behave yourself or I'll have Ichirin make your dinner tonight!" said Mamizou as she placed her hand on either sides of the gate, slowly pushing them together. "See ya around kid. Oh and one more thing." A long bamboo broom popped into existence before her, grasping it and offering it to Kyouko, "Take it, wouldn't want you to go out there without something to whack people with. Especially after that fight with the immortal."

Kyouko's eyes widened and asked, "Wait, how do you know that?"

"Bye Kyouko~" with that, Mamizou tossed the broom into the air towards the Yamabiko. Kyouko caught it on instinct and watched as the gates close in front of her. Standing up, she released a heavy sigh before turning her back towards the temple. What the hell was she going to do with the broom?

* * *

A hell cat was running through the village at breakneck speeds, still nobody cared, all they knew that something green-red and ridiculously fast just passed by. The Kasha was apparently too fast for the eye can see, so the locals knew that chasing after her was pointless. At least not for the ones who had the corpse of their relative stolen.

Kyouko moved to the side of the street as the blur came her way, not a moment too soon an angry mob with pitch forks and make shift weapons followed, the Kasha's cackling echoing in the distance over the sound of the crowd. Kyouko lifted her head and gazed at the sky. It was a cloudless day with the sun high up, not a sign of bad weather in the horizon.

The Yamabiko had no idea where to head next. Her first thoughts were to pay Mystia a visit, though shot the idea down since the night sparrow was probably sleeping in or was hanging out with her friends. Not second after that thought was axed, another had to be put down since it went along the lines of going along with Mystia's friends so they can hang out all together.

She shook her head; she'll just prove to be a bother to them, besides she wasn't really that good with people. It was really a surprise for her when Mystia showed up out of nowhere and asked her to be the lead singer of the band the night sparrow was making. Now Kyouko wasn't really the shy type since she's the one meeting all temple visitors at the gate, but when people go beyond that and speak to her personally then that's the part where she got flustered.

Kyouko liked Mystia's straightforwardness and level-headedness. Sometimes if she ever forgot a part of a song while they're performing, Mystia will catch her, taking the lead so that she would find her rhythm again. She really owed Mystia quite a lot such as being a friend, forming a band, and a great deal of other stuff.

As much as a great friend Mystia was, Kyouko had to give her some space. A week before her fight with Fujiwara no Mokou, Kyouko had visited Mystia's stand a number of times and vice versa.

Kyouko flapped her ears, she didn't want to look like some kind of stalker or have the night sparrow think she's annoying. Still... It was so boring without Mystia around, even now in the middle of a busy village with a hell lot of humans.

The crowd thinned and Kyouko was left in the middle of the street with a few people left. She glanced from left to right and broke into a run towards an alley; she's a youkai she didn't want to stand out in a human village. Youkais are usually welcomed in the village as long as they didn't cause trouble. Thinking back about the red haired kasha earlier some youkai just can't fight their natural instincts even at the best of times.

Nevertheless the human and youkai relationship in Gensokyo is more or less at peace.

Kyouko came to halt as she caught her breath. In her mad dash from nothing, she found herself right in front of a strange old oriental household with the sign; _Suzunaan, _written on a wooden board on the outside. She thought for a moment if she was to enter, the place looked creepy for no reason. Kyouko decided that it was just old and her youkai instincts told her that there's something interesting inside the house.

"Um, hello? Is anyone here?" she called out, pushing strings of curtains that looked like they were made from wood.

"A customer? On a sunny day too, oh my isn't that rare?" said a voice deep within.

The interior of the 'house' was fashioned to that of a library. Rows and rows of old bookshelves holding new and old texts sat on either side of the wide path, revealing a lone girl sitting behind a table. The girl seemed to be in her mid-teens and gave Kyouko a welcoming smile as she approached. Kyouko didn't have problems with seeing in the dark but she couldn't tell how this girl managed to read her book in such a dim room, even the lamp at her side it was still too dark.

"Welcome to Suzunaan, the best book renter in Gensokyo!" said the girl, standing from her chair and leaning forward, "how may I help you?"

Kyouko was a bit startled at the girl's greeting, causing her ears to stand up and stiffen.

The girl's smile slowly turned into a look of curiosity as she asked, "Hm, aren't you that youkai girl at the new temple's gate?"

In response, Kyouko curtsied and said, "I-I'm sorry for intruding and, yes? I'm the priest in training of Myouren Temple, Kyouko Kasodani."

The girl blinked twice before saying, "Ah, well it's good that I remembered you. I hear that the people in the temple are a good bunch."

"T-t-they are," was Kyouko's only reply.

"So, Miss Kasodani, how can I help you?" offered the girl as she sat back down on her chair, her chin resting on her palm.

The Yamabiko seemed to be lost for words. She had been around the Human Village for quite awhile but she has never heard of this shop nor has ever met this girl. It was like this shop popped out of nowhere and the people around it dismissed it as nothing out of the ordinary. Or maybe, Kyouko was just being paranoid.

"Oh, where are my manners?" chuckled the girl, "My name's Kosuzu Motoori, everyday worker of Suzunaan."

"Um, nice to meet you," replied Kyouko with another curtsy.

"So, what brings you to Suzunaan?" asked Kosuzu, "Would you like to borrow or rent anything?"

"N-n-nothing for now, but if I may ask, what is this place?"

Kosuzu allowed herself a small giggle before saying, "Well, I suppose I can give you a crash course on what this place is all about. Suzunaan was originally and still is a book renting shop until we began to stretch out to other services like press booking and bookbinding though not so much that it overshadows the place's original purpose. At times we even sell old books, or books that have multiple copies for the villagers."

The Book keeper pulled a drawer underneath her and threw a book towards Kyouko who caught it.

"Mind you, some of our stocks come from the Outside and a few of them..."

The book within Kyouko's grasp started to growl, she yelped and dropped the book on the ground.

"Bite as a defense mechanism," laughed Kosuzu, "Sorry about that, but I have to try that again with new customers. You should've seen Lady Akyuu's face the first time, and I took quite a scolding too."

_No wonder this place rarely has customers..._ thought Kyouko as she fought to control her breathing.

"The family's pride is being able to print and bind copies of the original Gensokyo Chronicles written by the Hieda family where my mom and dad says that it's a big honor of some kind," Kosuzu tilted her head to the side and studied Kyouko, "As fun as it sounds, I often get bored."

"I see," replied Kyouko.

"Well, now that's out of the way, I suppose you'll help yourself to browsing?" asked Kosuzu, leaning back to her chair.

"I think so. Maybe I'll find some scriptures here about Buddhism, maybe have a look at them for stock knowledge's sake," said Kyouko, tapping her head with her fist. Kosuzu smiled. The Yamabiko found the Book Keeper a very comfortable person to be with if not for the mischievous attitude she had. Still, Kosuzu was a helpful girl, telling her all about the shop.

"Oh and one more thing," said Kosuzu, her face forming into a mischievous one, "Be sure to keep quiet around here, you wouldn't want to disturb the other customers."

_Other customers?_ Wondered Kyouko as she glanced behind her back for anyone else. It seemed as if the shop was empty aside from the two of them, and while in an enclosed space, nothing can escape Kyouko's youkai ears. She decided to trust Kosuzu's words on this one, for all she knew, the shop could be haunted.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Kyouko giving the girl a final nod.

"If you need anything, you know where to find me!" called Kosuzu as Kyouko disappeared behind a shelf. She waited a few seconds before slowly muttering to herself, "And please don't attract _his_ attention. It's already bad enough I interacted with him."

* * *

Kyouko ran her fingers through the books' bindings in wonder. There rumours that the biggest library in Gensokyo was located somewhere over at the Misty Lake where the vampire lived. Most Outsiders ventured to that place for knowledge, and a whole lot of them went directly to the places without stopping to see the village. This shop was probably not the same size as the mansion she was thinking but it would've probably saved those Outsiders their time and life if they passed by here first.

Still she couldn't blame them; humans often loved adventure and the such. Kyouko may have never been to the vampire's library but she could tell that the books the shop had wasn't even a fraction of it, and the books here are already the most numerous she has seen in her life. Kyouko wasn't much of a reader, but reading sutras and reciting them made her a very good one. When she was bored with nothing to do similar to that of now, she would grab a book lying about and read it.

Aside from the number of scriptures and scrolls around the temple, there are few books scattered about with no real purpose.

Kyouko only gave the titles a brief glance as she passed by. "Reset Gap, Failed Transformation, Death of a Kappa, Gensokyo Straights, Paradise Gap, so many books with so many titles. Wow, I wonder how many there are in this place."

She grabbed a book from the shelf and opened it, turning pages as she read a bit of the story. Kyouko stood there for a fifteen minutes reading her book, eventually humming herself a pleasant tune before placing the book back on its shelf. Kyouko went to the opposite shelf and took a book from there as well. Five minutes passed and Kyouko abandoned the book feeling misty around her eyes. As short as the story was she found herself emotionally pulled into it.

The Yamabiko shook her head and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She never knew books could be this magical.

She blinked twice as she noticed something, or someone at the far end of the shelf. What she saw was but a blank wall, but she could've sworn that she heard a person's breathing. Kosuzu's words bounced along her mind yet it seemed like her natural curiosity won her over once more. With her broom held tight at her side, Kyouko began to walk towards the source of the sound.

She stopped short as she caught sight of a turtle. No scratch that, Kyouko froze in place as she saw a five feet long turtle sleeping under a pile of books.

_Wh-what the hell?_ She thought, then immediately reprimanded herself for cursing. Kyouko already had her fair share of the weird and strange, but seeing a very large turtle in the middle of a book renting shop caught her off guard. She could hear the creature's deep peaceful breathing as it rested its head on a stack of books while a large one was spread open in front of it. She figured that it fell asleep while reading, but the question was, can it even read?

"It's rude to stare you know," said a male voice, causing the Yamabiko to spin around. Behind her was a human boy, dressed in a thick dark blue jacket with red trimmings and pants. He was leaning against the wall, reading a book entitled: The Swordsmith's Grudge and the Spirit's Wish with a bemused expression on his face. He was so absorbed with his book that he didn't even look at Kyouko. "I'll be quiet if I were you, that lizard doesn't take it well if woken up. Oh and mind your manners if he does."

"He? How do you know it's a guy?" asked Kyouko before she can stop herself.

The boy gave her a weird look, "The beard, young lady. Can't you see the beard?"

Kyouko gave the turtle another glance before turning to the boy once again. "Oh..."

"No need to thank me for saving you from a horrible gruesome death," muttered the boy as he turned a page.

The Yamabiko was lost for words. She couldn't tell how, but she felt like that this person was...out of place. Maybe it was his clothes, maybe it was his way of speech, or maybe because he just seemed different, Kyouko couldn't tell how or why. "I told you it's rude to stare," he said once more, this time his eyes travelling towards Kyouko.

"Ah! Well, um, I'm sorry!" cried Kyouko, dipping her head low in shame.

"Well, you don't have to mop about it. Every heard of the term cut loose?" asked the boy as he closed his book and turned his full attention to the flustered Yamabiko. Judging by his looks, this person appeared was human yet for some unexplainable reason Kyouko felt like hiding under a table. He didn't give off any intention of scaring her and neither did he appear hostile. He just looked at her and she had the urge to bolt and run.

Finally, Kyouko found her voice and asked, "A-a-are you an Outsider?"

It took a while for the boy to answer and when he did, a small smile crept on his lips, "You could say that." Then he saw Kyouko look at the book on his hands, "Wanna read?"

"Oi! You!" called a gruff voice behind Kyouko. She turned around to see that not only was the turtle awake but it was talking.

The boy's face broke into a grin, "Ah, good morning Genji! How's the sleep?"

"You! Get your useless hind quarters out of here! This very moment!" yelled the turtle angrily, standing up faster than Kyouko would've believed it can which caused the book behind its back to fall. "Do you have any idea how many walls you're demolishing by just being here?! Out, NOW!"

Kyouko had to press her back against a wall to allow the turtle some space to pass by.

"Geez, I was just going to point her in the right direction and—"

"I don't care, I'll do it! Since when did you get here in the first place?! Never mind, just go! Or else I'll have the Kannushi ban you from this place!" roared Genji. Wait, roar? The turtle wasn't even opening its mouth, though it was obvious that it was angry at the boy for some reason. Then it hit her. Telepathy.

"Hmph, you do know that the drunkard gave me temporary access to this place. Bah, whatever," to Kyouko he said, "It's always the one you'll least suspect."

"Alright, that's enough! Get out, now!" at the turtle's command, the boy disappeared looking very satisfied. Kyouko was about be relieved when the turtle turned to her, "What are you still doing here?! Get out of here! And don't you dare go any other place than the Forest of Magic, now shoo! Away with you!"

On any other time, Kyouko might have found it very rude, but seeing how the words came from a turtle right after receiving a strange message from an even stranger person who disappeared into thin air, she decided to follow the turtle's instructions and leave for the sake of her sanity.

Kyouko ran between the bookshelves till she was back in the main path and heading for the exit.

Behind her, Kosuzu observed Kyouko's hastily retreating figure from afar. A sigh escaped her before she turned her head towards the approaching reptile. "She met him, didn't she?"

"Eyup," replied the turtle as he settled beside Kosuzu's chair. "Well there goes that. At least he didn't do anything stupid..."

* * *

Kyouko was flying in the air, the Human Village far behind her. She did everything in her mind to get rid of the weird events that occurred not ten minutes ago. She has never met a talking in her life, and the first time she did, it threw her out. She bit her lip in frustration, she didn't even have the time to say good bye to Kosuzu, and maybe the next time she'll visit she'll apologize.

A sea of green passed below her. Kyouko found herself at the edges of the Forest of Magic, just like the turtle told her to go. For some reason she found it strange, then again a lot of strange things happened today so she dismissed it. She was headed for the forest either way, she planned on meeting Mystia sometime after sunset, and the night sparrow was bound to be here somewhere.

A grin formed on Kyouko's faced and her ears flapped excitedly as she saw a familiar brown roofed cart parked in the middle of the forest path below her.

Kyouko touched down a few meters away from the cart and broke into a run while calling, "Mystia~!"

The pink haired night sparrow youkai raised her head a little too fast, causing her head to collide with a hanging kettle. Sitting on the counter, a teal haired youkai girl giggled as Mystia started groaning. This time, Mystia slowly lifted her head up and gazed at the arriving newcomer with a pained smile.

"Kyouko~!" yelled Mystia back, leaning out of her cart and waving her hand to greet the Yamabiko.

Kyouko came to a halt at the cart, taking one of the seats while Mystia prepared her a meal. Beside the Yamabiko the other teal haired girl spoke, "Hm, aren't you kinda early? Did you miss Mystia already?"

That earned her a flying frying pan to the head before Kyouko could even say something.

"Wriggle, shut up," Mystia muttered icily as she chopped a few vegetables with excellent precision.

Rubbing her head, to Kyouko Wriggle said, "So what brings you here to our lovely Mysti's cart?"

Another flying pan.

"W-w-well y-you see," started Kyouko as she twiddled her thumbs with an obvious blush on her face, "I was thinking if me and Mystia could plan out our concert this weekend...Together?"

Wriggle who had been drinking a shot of sake that time spat it out directly into the sparrow in question's face. Mystia on the other hand didn't seem to take Kyouko's words the same as Wriggle did. She merely wiped her face with a piece of cloth before tapping Wriggle on her shoulder. As soon as Wriggle turned her head, a frying pan met with her face not once but twice. As the insect youkai groaned while squirming on the ground like the bug she is, Mystia gave Kyouko a warm smile that said: _Get any funny ideas and you're next._

Kyouko turned her gaze away. Mystia was scary like that. But still, she had been the same ever since Kyouko met her last spring. The same comforting and motherly night sparrow that Kyouko met at the temple grounds. Mystia was apparently volunteering for catering the temple's food, it seemed like Murasa and Nue were fond of her famous grilled lampreys at that time. Unfortunately she was kicked out since the temple didn't do much with meat.

So that's when she caught Kyouko singing at the gate and approached her.

Mystia has never changed since that day. During the weekdays, the sparrow would visit the temple at least once or twice a week and during Kyouko's off days she would visit the sparrow in turn.

The sparrow bore the appearance of a young girl, the same as Kyouko and Wriggle. Her ears were pointed like that of a bird's, a sign of her transformation from bird to youkai. Along with this, two bird like wings sprouted on her back which followed the color of her brown clothing over her white dress.

_Yup, same old Mystia, _though Kyouko as her ears flapped.

"Uh, Kyouko are you alright?" asked Mystia as she served the Yamabiko her meal.

"Ah, it's nothing. Thanks for the meal~!" Kyouko muttered a small prayer of thanks before digging in. She didn't notice that she was that hungry and it seemed like she spent too much time in Suzunaan than she noticed. Proof only that the books there were superb, to think that it made her mind wander instead of eating her lunch. Now that she thought about it, the last time she ate something was during breakfast and it was already nearing sundown.

While she was eating, Mystia told her all about what happened at the festival that was held at the Hakurei Shrine four days ago. She was surprised not to see Kyouko among the temple's people when they arrived. Kyouko felt a bit guilty there, but she knew that staying at the temple that time was the right thing to do... Even if she didn't acquire what she stayed behind for. Still, Mystia didn't question her on why she wasn't there.

Mystia told her about the sorts of things Reimu Hakurei set up on the shrine with the help of Yukari Yakumo. There were games, stands, a stage play, and a drinking contest. Mystia said that both she and Kyouko would've blown everyone away that night if they were given the chance. Unfortunately even if they were both present, they didn't have any plans on which songs to sing or which dresses to wear. Wriggle chimed in to add a bit more to the story and gave Kyouko a bit of the news on what was going on around Gensokyo.

Apparently there were flashes of lights on the Cliffs of the Oni and the vampire's entire household going into a state of panic before ending in an impromptu party. There was also that brief spat between Satori Komeiji and Parsee Mizuhashi, sending the reporter Aya Shameimaru into a frenzy. Wriggle only shut her mouth when Mystia mentioned Yuuka Kazami and Kogasa Tatara enjoying themselves to catching goldfishes together.

Though on the whole, it was fun and Kyouko wished that she was there.

Kyouko only froze when Mystia finally questioned her on to why she didn't show up. She knew this was coming and she slowly told them.

"WHAT?!" cried Wriggle and Mystia in unison. "YOU FOUGHT A HOURAI IMMORTAL ND WON?!"

"That's impossible!" groaned Wriggle with a hand on her face.

"Screw that, it's awesome!" squealed Mystia.

"Idiot, don't you think she could've gotten herself killed? I mean, that was Fujiwara no freaking Mokou!" said Wriggle with a look that bordered between disbelief and awe.

"I know and that bird killer finally got what she deserved! Good job Kyouko! Uh, Kyouko?" Mystia gave the Yamabiko a concerned look as her eyes slowly became misty.

And then Kyouko began to cry.

"Whoa, hold on, why is she crying?" asked Wriggle in surprise.

"Hell if I know," replied Mystia before turning to Kyouko, "Hey what's wrong, are you okay?"

"I-I hurt her. I hurt Miss Mokou and she was okay... I don't get it M-M-Mysti. I was never a good fighter yet, wh-why? Why am I so good at it? I don't want hurt people; I'm a g-g-good youkai! And yet I..." Kyouko didn't have the chance of finishing her sentence as she started to bawl.

Mystia glanced at Wriggle for support only to find the Insect Youkai shrugging, it seems like they were both uncomfortable with this development. The night sparrow youkai placed a gentle hand on the Yamabiko's head and ruffled her hair. Kyouko looked up in confusion.

"Look, it's not like that you're good at fighting that you'll start hurting other people. No, if Kyouko's going to be good at fighting that'll mean that she'll be strong enough to stand and help the temple some more," said Mystia as she smiled, "You won't have to rely on anyone and you'll have enough power to defend yourself and those you care about."

"Mystia's right," chimed in Wriggle, "if this keeps up you'll be able to protect her when the time demands it. You don't have to be strong by using your fists, heck, Mystia and I usually avoid trouble by talking people out. Did you try talking to that immortal before the fight began?"

Kyouko hiccupped and inhaled a shaky breath before answering, "Yes... She tried to fry me a minute later."

Wriggle blinked in surprise, "Well, there goes that... Mystia your turn..."

"Um, everything's going to be okay. Just be strong, this is... This is normal for youkais to get into fights every now and then. It's not like that the sky's going to fall, right?" said Mystia with a reassuring smile. Kyouko calmed down after that and returned the smile as she wiped her tear stricken face clean.

"You're right, ha ha. What was I thinking? Maybe I'm just not used to—"

And then the sky fell.

"EVERYONE SCATTER!" roared Wriggle as a large jagged stone fell from the heavens.

Mystia managed to escape her cart before it was crushed under another large stone. It seemed like it wasn't over yet since the stones kept falling one after another, all impaling themselves near the girls. A silent message passed between the three and all of them knew what to do: it was time to fly like hell. They kicked off the ground and soared up high the forest of magic. The night had already covered the sky some minutes ago and the moon was starting to rise up.

"What in the name of Buddha is happening?!" screamed Kyouko over the howling of the wind.

"Mystia, I swear if this is one of those loan sharks you've been flirting with, I'm going to kill you!"

"Get in line, Nightbug! "

"WAIT, LOAN SHARKS?!"

Before Mystia could even answer, an enormous stone fell in front of them, causing them to break formation as they passed it. Kyouko looked behind her shoulder to see that the stone was half the size of a large building, flattening the ancient trees beneath it. She swallowed a lump in her throat before turning her attention back to flying. The stones still fell and the three youkai girls were having a hard time dodging them all at once. They felt more at ease if it were Danmaku since it won't kill them, but with these stones one hit will squash them flat.

None of them were particularly excited of waiting a few years before they resurrected. Youkais weren't exactly the same as fairies so, but at least they survived death unlike humans. After fighting an immortal to near death, Kyouko didn't want to die now, and she had no plans of doing so.

"Clearing, up ahead!" yelled Wriggle, her cape billowing behind her.

Not far from them was a circular clearing void of any trees or structure, which was strange. Usually plants of all kind grew like wild fire on any available ground, to see a completely bare patch of land filled with nothing but grass deep in the heart of the Forest of Magic was nothing short of rare.

The three youkai girls landed on the clearing all breathing hard. They all looked up to the sky and found that the hail of boulders had stopped, much to their relief. However this quickly disappeared as the sounds of clapping found its way into their ears.

Kyouko turned to gaze at a young woman with a long beautiful blue hair dressed in a blue dress that matched her hair and complimented her dark crimson eyes. A white button up blouse housed her torso and was decorated with a red ribbon tied at the base of her neck. A white apron was on her front where a rainbow patterned link around it. On her left hand was a simple black hat as a blazing red sword impaled itself on the ground before her.

"Oh my, aren't you the interesting bunch," commented the new girl, "It seems like my descent here wasn't all for naught."

"And who the hell are you?" snarled Wriggle, anger present on her face.

"A friend who came to play," replied the woman with a bemused expression.

"Friends don't hurl forty tons of solid stone on unsuspecting people," said Kyouko through narrowed eyes.

"Well it's only my way of saying hi, Kyouko Kasodani," said the woman, a mischievous smile invading her lips. Kyouko was struck dumb at the mention of her name. _How did she-?_

"Well aren't you the rude one? You go off tossing rocks on us and you call one of our friends by their names without introducing yourself? For shame," said Mystia in a cold voice, "And you have no idea how hard it is to build a cart and install a freaking burner that actually works."

"Ah, the mortal world is so cruel. You'll have to deal with it," replied the woman with a sweet smile on her face, "And by the way, my name is Tenshi Hinanawi, now are we squared?"

"No, but at least I know what name I'm going to put on your grave stone," growled Mystia turning her fingers into claws.

"Hmph, birds... Always full of spunk," said the woman, her expression turning into a bored on, "I'm only here for the Yamabiko, she seems a whole lot interesting than a grilled bird or a cockroach."

"This girl is pissing me off," said Wriggle, "Can we beat her up and toss her in the lake?"

"No," said Mystia, "Get back up, call anyone to help, I don't like the look on this girl's eyes. Kyouko you go with Wriggle. Kyouko?"

The Yamabiko had gone awfully quiet, not a moment later she collapsed on her knees with her hands on her head, "No more fighting... no more fighting..."

"MINE!" yelled Tenshi and a large boulder appeared above Kyouko. Moving quicker than she could ever imagine, Mystia managed to push Kyouko out of the way, "Wriggle, get help, now!"

"Right!" was the Insect Youkai's response before flying off. Mystia glared at Tenshi with hate.

"You wanna play? I'll play..." she snarled as her finger nails grew longer and sharper.

Tenshi accepted the challenge with a mocking smirk across her face. _Oh I'm going to enjoy an appetizer before the main course, _she thought as she kept her eyes on the kneeling Yamabiko behind Mystia, _I'll just save the best for last and get this over with._

* * *

_The Strongest Music Cues: Foreground Eclipse [In a night when her sorrow resounds around]_

Kyouko opened her eyes to a duel. Mystia dashed on full speed towards the celestial that had introduced herself as Tenshi, her wings grew as they spread out wide. With a mighty beat, Mystia was in the air while Tenshi shielded her eyes from the flying dust. The night sparrow broke into a speedy dive, her right hand turned into a claw, ready to rip Tenshi's face off. Another flap of her wings and Mystia into the other direction, dodging Tenshi's sword thrust.

Mystia landed behind the celestial and attacked. Tenshi swung her blade yet Mystia dodged. The night sparrow was about to drive her claw into the celestial's eye sockets when all of a sudden, a keystone slammed down on her. Or at least the spot where she used to be. Tenshi only realized it when she crashed face first into the keystone she had just summoned. Mystia was just recovering from the tackle she gave Tenshi, before sending a powerful kick that would have cracked a human's spine at the celestial's back. The celestial dug her fingers into the rock, the stone cracking under her finger tips, and pulling them out, taking the earth with her and with a massive swing connected with Mystia's jaw.

The sparrow was sent tumbling along the grass as Tenshi dashed towards her, the celestial playfully pounding her stone gauntlets before leaping to the air to crush Mystia. The sparrow rolled out f the way and managed to stand, taking advantage of Tenshi's slow movements by clawing on the celestial's face. A stone pillar erupted from the ground before she could even reach Tenshi, knocking air out of her lungs.

Disoriented, Mystia righted herself in mid-air just to see a charging celestial flying towards her with a blazing sword.

"Here birdy!" laughed Tenshi as she watched Mystia dance with every strike.

As fast as Tenshi was, Mystia was faster. With her wings her movements while in the air increase though not to the extent of the karasu tengu, but enough to dodge all of Tenshi's slashes with ease. Growing fed up with the constant hacking, Mystia grabbed Tenshi's sword by its blade after a missed thrust, pulling the celestial towards her and delivering a blow to the stomach. Tenshi doubled over and before she can even raise her head Mystia had already hit her with a backhand before grabbing her collar.

The punch intended for Tenshi's face never came since the celestial had already sent her advanced reply in the form of a kick to the gut. Whirling around, Tenshi performed a horizontal slash, only to look up and have her face grabbed by Mystia's claws as both of them came down. Mystia released Tenshi at the last second, causing the celestial to take the brunt of the impact as she crashed back first.

"Why won't she stay down?!" growled the sparrow as she watched the celestial get up with a smug look on her face.

Tenshi raised a drunken arm before it stiffened as its finger spread outwards. Heaven fell once more. Mystia cursed at the falling keystones falling at random, she won't be able to fly at this rate and sticking to the ground where her opponent is strongest isn't really the best strategy.

Mystia broke into a dive, fat red orbs of Danmaku flying ahead of her. The attack forced Tenshi to jump, using the falling keystones to ascend from the ground. Tenshi smirked as she watched Mystia follow her through the raining boulders. A keystone got in the way of her vision for a split second and Mystia had disappeared. She turned her head to her right to see Mystia kick off a keystone and spear head towards Tenshi. The celestial had managed to summon her Sword of Hisou in time to defend herself, cutting into the air as she tried to slice the sparrow into two pieces.

"You sure you can keep up?" asked Tenshi between slashes, "I can go on all night!"

"Don't be so sure of yourself," replied Mystia, a smirk of her own creeping into her lips as she exchanged slashes with her claws, "Night Sparrows are born for the night!"

Mystia grabbed Tenshi's sword hand just as the celestial was about to bring it down, and raised her left hand along with her opponent's free hand, locking them in place on the falling keystone. Mystia glared into the celestial's mocking eyes as they fell.

Down below, Kyouko shielded her eyes as the keystone the two were standing on crashed. She caught a glimpse of Mystia as a pink and brown blur that burst from the dust and smoke while being followed by a scarlet laser. Mystia paused for a moment before dashing once more as another laser came her way. The smoke cleared, just to reveal Tenshi holding on to a small keystone that fit in her hand and was firing one laser after another towards Mystia.

The trees behind the sparrow exploded as the laser hit them instead. Tenshi leapt to the air with another small keystone beneath her feet, sending a burst of thin red bullets all around. Mystia zigzagged her way through the bullets, using her wings a shield to block the last wave. She spread them once more with blue bullets erupting from them. Four keystones momentarily protected Tenshi from the attack. With a roar, Mystia swung her left arm towards Tenshi's face.

Unsurprisingly, Tenshi caught it. Mystia smirked and the celestial realized her mistake a second too late as the sparrow grabbed her wrist throwing her into the grass.

"Dumbass," said Mystia as she raised her right hand to punch Tenshi right then and there.

"I know you are but what am I?" mocked Tenshi a disturbing smirk across her lips. Mystia managed to see the shadow of something very large on the grass all before she was crushed by a keystone as large as a school bus. Tenshi slowly stood up while dusting her skirt, pulling out a spellcard from her pocket. "Keystone~ World Creation Press," she declared a little late.

The giant keystone levitated in the air, revealing the battered Mystia beneath it. Thanks to her nature being a youkai, the night sparrow wasn't immediately crushed, yet her breathing was reduced to shallow ones. She was lying face down, a few cuts on her sleeves and dress while tiny feathers were scattered around her. Mystia struggled to lift her head and shoot Tenshi a contemptuous look.

"Game over, little chick, time for the main course," said Tenshi, her arrogant smirk brighter than ever. Mystia's gaze went far behind Tenshi, to where Kyouko was kneeling. Tears traced down the Yamabiko's face as she watched her friend being defeated in front of her.

"Stop... Stop it..." sobbed Kyouko, more tears falling on her dress. Tenshi raised her hand higher and so did the keystone. Kyouko stood up with her broom gripped tightly on her right as she drew in a deep breath. And then she screamed, "**I SAID STOP IT!"**

Tenshi turned her head around in time to receive the full blow of Kyouko's echo, sending her body through her keystone, cutting the stone in half. Mystia covered her head from the falling debris as the two halves of the keystone fell on either side of her by a few meters. The night sparrow managed to blink her eyes twice before a blur of brown and green sent her back to the grass. The next moment she found herself within Kyouko's embrace, the Yamabiko was quivering from both terror and relief.

"You're okay! Thank Buddha you're okay!" sobbed Kyouko as she hugged the night sparrow like no tomorrow.

Mystia didn't notice but tears were falling down from her eyes too as she hugged her friend back, "Yeah I'm alright. Wasn't that scary? Ha ha."

"Don't you dare do something that scary again! Or I'll... I'll..." Kyouko burst into tears, burying her face on Mystia's shoulder.

The night sparrow patted her friend on the back. For a few seconds everything seemed alright, until, "KYOUKO, YOUR BACK!"

In one fluid movement, the Yamabiko released Mystia and faced the incoming attack. The teal headed girl had her broom raised as a blazing red sword collided with it. Tenshi was back in the game with a serious expression on her face. Kyouko planted a foot on the grass and pushed Tenshi's sword away. Tenshi swung to counter yet her blade was met with Kyouko's broom once more. The celestial hacked and slashed followed by a thrust which was redirected and a knee which was blocked too.

Kyouko took a step back and sent a vertical sweep upwards with the brush of her broom. Tenshi backtracked a step failing to see the feint and received a foot to the gut, pushing her away from the youkais. Kyouko blocked Mystia from Tenshi's view, the Yamabiko's eyes filled with anger and tears.

"Hmph, so I believe you're game face's on?" asked Tenshi with her sword lowered at her side. The celestial's face was hard yet unreadable, who knows what she was thinking. It was as if she was in the state of enlightenment just as Byakuren had mentioned a long time ago.

"Please forgive me but you're the one forcing my hand. If you continue to hurt my friend then I have no choice but to defeat you," replied Kyouko with all the courage she could muster. Apparently the Yamabiko's knees were shaking. Mystia doubted that Kyouko would be able to hold out against such strong opponent, but then again, Kyouko defeated a Hourai Immortal so maybe she'll stand a chance.

The teal haired girl glanced over her shoulder and gave Mystia a reassuring smile, "You sit there, it's my turn to protect you."

_You're the one who needs protecting, dummy, _thought the night sparrow but aloud she said, "Don't push yourself too much."

Kyouko inhaled a deep breath before stepping forth a few paces away from Mystia while the sparrow limped behind the cover of a tree. Tenshi raised her sword and thrust it into the ground, "I think I'll give you the honor of fighting with a nice view."

_The Strongest Music ends. Cue the silence!_

The earth shook and soon Kyouko found herself rising higher and higher and higher while one great stone platform. And so began the battle between Apprentice Priest and a Celestial.

* * *

Kyouko surveyed her surroundings. She was high up in the sky while standing on nothing but a stone pillar that erupted from the ground about twenty feet in diameter. The floor was flat and smooth, free of any obstruction making it the perfect arena for a clean match. At the far side of the platform was Tenshi, she had her back towards Kyouko while her sword was still plunged into the stone. The Celestial had a regal air about her as she stared off into the distance.

Tenshi raised her right hand and gestured Kyouko to come to her. The Yamabiko obliged without a word and soon she was right beside the Celestial as they both gazed at the lands below. Now Kyouko had been flying for as long as she can remember but she has never flown up so high that the earth below looked like it could fit within her hand. One reason she hadn't was that she was afraid of going up too high lest she freaked out forgot how to fly, ending up a bloody smear at the bottom. Another reason she hadn't was that the Heavens had their own rulers one of them might be standing beside her now.

"Beautiful isn't it? Gensokyo..." muttered Tenshi, her eyes never leaving the forest.

Kyouko didn't say anything yet merely seized the sights with her eyes. Taking in everything she could see. It was so beautiful that it took her breath away. Kyouko could see wide stretches of lands slowly dissolving into grasslands before ending up in an endless plain of flowers marking the territory of the Garden of the Sun. To her right she could see the forest being riddled with streams as they formed into large rivers that came from Heaven's waterfall at the Youkai Mountain. The Human Village was somewhere northwards of their location and Kyouko could see the Palanquin anchored on its outskirts.

She wondered if anyone knew of her current predicament. Once again she was all alone with a very powerful opponent.

_No I'm not alone,_ she thought as she peeked over the edge. Mystia was somewhere down there, cheering her on. She wouldn't want to disappoint her friend by losing, not ever.

"I could see my house from here," said Kyouko after three minutes of silence "Is this... What it's like in Heaven?"

"Pretty much," replied Tenshi, "Though unlike this rock we're on, Heaven's higher up in the sky, literally above the clouds. Even while here on this pillar we aren't even a third away from that place."

"Must be fun..."

Tenshi snorted in disgust, "As if..."

"Maybe one day I'll visit it," said Kyouko with a ghost of smile on her lips.

"Who knows. Maybe if the Yama judges you as White you'll be condemned to eternal boredom on a floating island above the clouds?" a chuckle escaped the Celestial's lips, "If only I knew this would've happened I'll be taking my chances in Old Hell..."

Kyouko turned to face Tenshi and asked, "Why are you doing this? Why are you suddenly attacking us without reason? I mean, what's the point of hurting each other?"

"The point? Now that sounds like a human would say coming from a youkai," said Tenshi.

"So?" retorted Kyouko, "It doesn't mean that we're youkai doesn't mean that we're barbarians attacking for no good reason!"

"I was bored," admitted Tenshi, "I really had nothing to do with my time so I went on an expedition to find a strong opponent." The Celestial drew her sword from the ground and pointed it at Kyouko, "and you happened to be a worthy opponent."

Kyouko blinked, "Wait, no. This is a mistake, I'm not—"

"Oh but you are! It takes a whole lot of power to blow me off my feet like that," cut off the Celestial with a bright gleam behind her eyes, "To defeat and man handle an Immortal? That isn't some small feat Miss Kasodani!"

"Wait, you were there?" asked Kyouko.

Tenshi smirked, "I have my sources, and it seems like they weren't mistaken."

"Mistaken? They?" questions began to flood Kyouko's mind, "Is there someone after me? Are they the ones who sent you?!"

"Oh no, no, no. They are mere information brokers, I am just one of their newest clients," replied Tenshi, "They just came to my front door and asked me if I was bored. Being me I said yes, so they went on offering me some entertainment... A challenge...Now that's where you come in, a rather interesting Yamabiko that has defeated an Immortal. Now that got me hooked so I set out to find you and here we are now... Standing among the Heavens in preparation for an awe striking battle."

"So... You're doing all of this because you're bored? You hurt Mystia and broke her cart because of that?" asked Kyouko in utter bewilderment. She wasn't angry she was just surprised that's all. To think that the Celestial will go far for something as petty as that, Kyouko really had to rethink her common sense here. "You're a really weird person, you know that?"

"H-H-Hey I'm not weird! I'll show you, you dumb girl!" cried Tenshi as she thrust her blade.

_The Strongest Music Cues returns and presents :Ace Combat Zero Soundtrack Mission 18 –looped-_

Kyouko raised her broom and redirected the blade. Youkai and Celestial pushed each other away, only to dash forward and have their weapons clash. Tenshi shoved Kyouko backwards with her brute strength and assaulted her with a series of cuts and slashes. It was strange how a mere bamboo broom could withstand the might of the Sword of Hisou.

_This girl is quite the fighter eh?_ Thought Tenshi as her Jian began shine; _Let's see how you fare in this!"_

The Celestial twirled her sword between her two hands before plunging it into the ground. Kyouko was taken by surprise as she was blown backwards by a shockwave. Tumbling along the floor, Kyouko managed to stand up and charge at Tenshi. The Celestial grinned and dug the sword deeper into the ground, causing the earth to shake and for a spike to erupt towards her opponent. Kyouko stepped aside at the last moment, before taking flight as the second spike came out. The Yamabiko sent bursts of Danmaku towards her enemy while Tenshi yanked the sword out of the ground to slash at the projectiles.

Tenshi tossed keystones one after another in retaliation. Kyouko zigzagged through the air while firing her Danmaku, Tenshi just kept shooting in return with a mad grin on her face. The Celestial ducked as the Yamabiko passed by overhead. She spun around and resumed her shooting. Kyouko turned around, ready for another flyby with boost in speed.

The wind roaring in her ears, Kyouko kept her sights on Tenshi as the Celestial's bullets whizzed past her.

The platform exploded in smoke as the Yamabiko landed. Kyouko cleared the smoke around her with a sweep of her broom only to find Tenshi with a keystone in hand which let out a burst of scarlet laser. Kyouko inhaled a deep breath before screaming. Laser and echo met in mid-air in a ring of force.

Kyouko dashed forward as she pressed on the offensive only to find Tenshi with her hand raised in the air.

Stone pillars dug their way out of the ground and levelled the playing field. Kyouko ran on despite all of this, using her flight her flight to dash in a curve to her right. Sending an exploding keystone after the Yamabiko, Tenshi found Kyouko being too close for comfort so she lashed out with a jump slash. Kyouko brought her broom up in time for the blade to fall.

The two broke contact after a few seconds, the force of the collision sending Kyouko tumbling backwards while Tenshi maintained her footing and used it to her advantage by dashing. Leaping into the air, Tenshi summoned a keystone beneath her feet as she was about to crash into Kyouko.

The attack missed as the Yamabiko stood up at the last second, the impact of the keystone creating a crater. Kyouko came to a halt near the edge of the pillar, before facing the incoming Tenshi with a burst of purple bullets. The Celestial slashed at the bullets as a stone pillar erupted on her feet, giving her the boost she needed to jump up. Somersaulting in the air, Tenshi brought her sword below her in hopes to finish Kyouko off with her sword's destructive force.

Predictably, Tenshi missed, however she was not quite done yet. She thrust a hand out from her exposed back and summoned keystone. Another hand shot out of nowhere and forced the Celestial's hand up, causing the keystone to shoot off into a stone spike from earlier. Kyouko swung her left fist into Tenshi's ribcage, earning her a knee to the gut, loosening her hold on Tenshi's left. The Celestial followed up with a fierce back hand, sending Kyouko flying for a stone pillar.

The Yamabiko righted herself at the last second and kicked off the pillar as homing keystones exploded after her. With a yelp, she barrel rolled in the air to dodge the first wave which was followed by another one from Tenshi. Kyouko gasp a lungful of air before flying off with a boom. She flew around stone pillars as the keystones were hot on her tail.

"Found your reason to fight yet, buddy?" shouted Tenshi as Kyouko circled a pillar in a swirl just to lose the keystones.

Tenshi followed Kyouko's progress with her eyes. She had to give to her; the Yamabiko was fast and coordinated despite being vastly overpowered. Tenshi's eyes widened as Kyouko peppered her with Danmaku while passing by. The Celestial gritted her teeth as she shook her head to get rid of the deafening buzzing in her ear, before flying after Kyouko.

The Yamabiko was flying at breakneck speed for a pillar; she glanced behind her to find four keystones ready to kill her. She forced her feet in front of her and decreased her speed to prevent her from crashing, before kicking off the stone into another direction. Tenshi's missiles exploded.

Kyouko saw the Celestial headed for her while Tenshi greeted her with a burst of keystones and lasers. The Yamabiko came to a halt in mid-air all while going around her opponent, dodging everything that was thrown at her. The Celestial's onslaught came to a halt, giving Kyouko the chance to send some of her own Danmaku. Tenshi cursed as she was forced to move.

Keystone met with red orbs as the two battled it out.

"Eat this!" roared Tenshi as she forced a large keystone in front of her, launching it towards Kyouko who evaded with ease. Tenshi raised her left arm and brought it down slowly just as another keystone formed right above their heads and mimicked her movements. Kyouko saw this and willed herself to go faster. With a cry of rage, Tenshi placed her right hand over her left arm and summoned a stream of laser. Kyouko looped around the thing her feet came in contact with the Celestial's gut.

The giant keystone disappeared in a dense haze of scarlet mist before fading away.

Tenshi grabbed Kyouko by her hair and grinded it against a stone pillar pushing its way up the ground. She pulled the Yamabiko away from the pillar and threw her into the ground where another pillar erupted to meet her. Kyouko's body collided with the pillar.

The teal headed girl opened her eyes to see Tenshi raised a boulder of a keystone above her head.

_No..._ thought Kyouko before being crushed between the keystone and pillar.

Tenshi surveyed her handiwork from above with a hard expression. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Kyouko's limp figure falling down along with the debris and crash down into the platform.

The Celestial descended, her feet lightly tapping the stone she went over to where Kyouko was. Or was supposed to be. On instinct, Tenshi ducked low as a broom passed over head. Summoning her sword, Tenshi exchanged blows with a battered Yamabiko, redirecting strike after strike while lashing out with her own. Kyouko was pushed back a few feet the moment Tenshi shoved her and used the distance to dash and jump. Bringing her broom downwards, Kyouko swung to her right as Tenshi lunged.

The Yamabiko parried another strike and forced Tenshi's blade to point downwards. Being the dirty player she was, Tenshi performed a head butt, knocking Kyouko back. Shaking her head, The Yamabiko managed to recover in time to redirect Tenshi's palm over her shoulder while blocking the punch to her gut.

Kyouko retaliated by sending her foot to the Celestial's stomach while Tenshi counter with a tackle. Crashing against a pillar, Kyouko shoved Tenshi away from her only to duck low to avoid the Sword of Hisou. The Celestial grunted as she tried to pull the sword from the rock while Kyouko saw it as a chance to attack. Taking a deep breath, Kyouko screamed.

Tenshi was sent crashing into her own pillar. When she reappeared, the Celestial looked livid. Roaring into the heavens, more Tenshi shot up into the air while on a pillar of stone.

"Heaven & Earth~ Land that Oversees the Distant World Below!" declared Tenshi as she raised her spellcard. The midnight blue sky suddenly adopted a bright shade of scarlet as The Celestial raised her sword into the air.

Keystones fell from the heavens and they were all aimed at Kyouko. In response to the challenge before her, Kyouko kicked off the ground and flew. Dodging through the rocks and boulders, she saw Tenshi's sword glow an ominous red before firing off a fireworks of red orbs.

Rolling and tumbling around the rain of keystones and orbs, Kyouko managed to find the opening she sought for, "Echo Sign~ Mountain Echo Scramble!"

Streams of red bullets burst from her back and into the distance before coming back in large numbers of large yellow bullets. Tenshi saw this and kicked off into the air. She countered Kyouko's yellow bursts with her scarlet ones.

"Enough of this play!" growled the Celestial, drawing out another spellcard, "Spirit Sign~ State of Freedom from Worldly Thoughts!"

Tenshi's body began to glow a bright shade of scarlet followed by her eyes lighting up in crimson energy. With sword in hand, she mowed down Kyouko's bullets, freezing the Yamabiko in place with fear. _It's over..._

Kyouko's spell ended leaving the sky bear of any lights or bullets. Taking breath after breath of air, Kyouko waited for Tenshi to cut her down. There was nothing she can do. Maybe her victory over Miss Mokou was just a ruse. Everything until now was just luck being at her side and now it was against her. She was going to lose...

And then her vision went black, followed by the sound of something big crashing below her. Kyouko was scared at this point. Was it over? Was Tenshi gone or was she dead? Nevertheless there was this strange...sad, haunting melody...

Kyouko blinked hard and her vision slowly returned. She gazed towards the top of one of the stone pillars and saw a familiar night sparrow singing on top. "Mystia!"

The night sparrow ceased her singing and glided next to her friend. "I told you not to push yourself too much, but did you listen? No!" Mystia's irritated words were followed by a punch on Kyouko's arm.

"S-Sorry..." muttered Kyouko looking embarrassed. Mystia just looked plain annoyed.

"Fine I'll let you off with the hook on this one. But seriously? Are you nuts?! I told you to play with her but I never said for you to have a death match!" yelled Mystia with her hands in the air.

"Hey, you were having a death match with her too!"

"Well I was doing that to stall time for Wriggle, idiot!"

"You were hurt!"

"That doesn't mean you can go for revenge!"

"I never said that," blinked Kyouko in confusion, "I just wanted to talk to her about why she was doing this but she jumped me."

Mystia brought her palm to her face, "Geez, you know what let's just SCATTER!"

At Mystia's command, Kyouko dashed away as a thin laser nearly hit them. Below them was Tenshi, rising up from a destroyed crater with her sword still in hand. The Celestial's hat was missing while her right sleeve was torn off. There was a large rip on her skirt and she lost the ribbon at her back.

She glared at her two opponents not with a look of hatred but a look of admiration. To put up this long with her, these two were good. Tenshi never fought a battle this long ever since her fight with Yuugi Hoshiguma. But for these two lesser youkai to beat her down to the extent of ripping her clothes, it's time for her to show them who's boss.

"Well done ladies, well done. I think you two deserve a reward by now but I think it's time for our little game to end," with a diagonal slash downwards, Tenshi's blade began to glow, "Ready for the final round, Kyouko Kasodani and Mystia Lorelei?"

_The Strongest Music fades. Cirno, bring out the new track: ALTERNATIVE- Bhavagra as seen through a Child's Mind_

Without further ado the two youkais plunged into a dive. Mystia spread her wings to catch the winds, slowing her descent before firing off a burst of pink Danmaku from her fingertips. Tenshi shielded her eyes with her arms, summoning her sword by the last minute to block Kyouko's broom strike. Kyouko slashed upwards, forcing Tenshi to step back and thrust. A hand pulled Kyouko out of harm's way and Mystia entered the fight. She shoved Tenshi's sword arm down, blocking the Celestial's left hook with her forearm before kicking the sword from Tenshi's grasp.

Tenshi's skull collided with the night sparrow, sending Mystia backwards. The Celestial was forced to spin around to dodge Kyouko's broom attack and block a couple of strikes before grabbing the brush and pulling Kyouko towards her. Sending a kick to the Yamabiko's gut, Tenshi finished the job with a roundhouse kick to the jaw, sending Kyouko flying.

The Celestial leaned to her left and watched as a claw passed over her shoulder. Forcing Mystia's arm under her armpit, Tenshi brought the sparrow to her knees before twisting the offending arm to the sparrow's back like a cop would do in the Outside World. Mystia hit the floor Hard.

Tenshi grabbed Kyouko's broom as it came down, pulling the Yamabiko once more and hitting Kyouko with her elbow. Kyouko doubled over clutching her stomach as Tenshi sat on a keystone and spun around with her legs outstretched, sending a kick to Kyouko's head.

The Celestial came to a halt and dug her fingers on the keystone she sat on, only to raise it in the air where it collided with a diving Mystia. She then aimed the keystone to a nearby pillar and launched it, taking Mystia with it. Tenshi smirked as she heard Kyouko rising behind her.

Tenshi drew a spellcard from her pocket and declared, "Scarlet Weather Rapture..."

Kyouko watched as Tenshi slowly rose into the air, her sword spinning in front of her a she faced the exhausted Yamabiko behind her. Kyouko looked down on her battered body and saw that there was this faint scarlet mist coming out of her. The Yamabiko witnessed as the scarlet mist from her body gathered in Tenshi's sword, forming an ominous glowing aura.

Keeping her left hand in front of her, Tenshi brought her right near her face and snapped her fingers.

That was enough of a warning for Kyouko to take cover as thin laser like bullets exploded forth. Behind a pillar of stone, Kyouko kept her head low and covered as Tenshi continued with her onslaught.

_I have to get close and time it when she fires her bullets. I'll deal more damage if I manage to bounce back a denser group of bullets, _thought Kyouko, her mind clicking in place she dashed out of her hiding place and charged.

Kyouko was forced to duck as a laser nearly cut her head off. A yelp escaped her lips before jumping high enough to clear a laser sweeping for her feet. The Yamabiko rolled on the ground as she landed, coming to a kneeling position as she glared at Tenshi. A thin stream of scarlet mist erupted from Tenshi's sword as it twirled around; Kyouko used this sudden pause to advance forward.

Leaping into the air, Kyouko inhaled a lungful of air and yelled. However her shout was met with a large, scarlet beam.

The beam and echo fought against each other yet it was obvious that the beam was gaining the upper hand, Kyouko was being pushed back. The Yamabiko planted her right foot behind her and tried pushing the beam back. However, it was no use. Tenshi just gave the beam an extra nudge and Kyouko was easily overwhelmed, sending her body flying into a pillar.

Tenshi aimed her next beam towards Kyouko's body to finish the job.

"Kyouko, under and above!" yelled Mystia's voice, firing a stream of Danmaku on Tenshi's back. The Celestial shrugged it off like nothing and concentrated on forcing her will on her power. The beam roared as it flew towards Kyouko's pillar but a blur of brown and green indicated that Kyouko escaped. Gritting her teeth, Tenshi fired the beam to her back where Kyouko was but missed. High above her head, Tenshi watched as the Yamabiko soared in the air with her broom at hand while dodging another grand laser.

Kyouko kicked off a pillar and dove towards Tenshi as the Yamabiko was engulfed with scarlet mist.

"**TAKE THIS!"** yelled Kyouko, unleashing an unholy scream just as a large beam collided with it at point blank range.

_She's too close, I won't be able to—AAAAGGGHHH!_ Tenshi suddenly had her own beam redirected to her, slamming her hard into the floor. The combined might of her own laser and that of Kyouko's scream was too much for the Celestial to stay conscious. _Too much, it's too much... I can't take it..._

_The Strongest Music Ends, Silence dominates!_

The beam slowly thinned and winked out of existence while the Yamabiko's scream came to halt, leaving Kyouko with a very sore throat and throbbing skull. Mystia glided down to Kyouko's side and surveyed the damage. Tenshi was knocked out cold, lying with her back against the ruined foundation of her a stone pillar.

"We won?" asked Mystia in a small voice. She went towards Tenshi and gave her an experimental poke. When the Celestial gave no response, the night sparrow turned to her friend, "She's down for the count. Well hit me hard and grill me hot, we actually beat her!"

"I...We did? That's...great..." Kyouko began to wobble from left to right and was about to collapse when Mystia caught her.

"Whoa, stay cool. You've been through a lot," said Mystia as she supported her friend. She pointed a finger at Tenshi and asked, "So, what are we going to with her?"

Before Kyouko could even answer, the whole platform they were standing on began to rumble and shake. The spikes, pillars, and debris slowly faded away into scarlet mist as the one who was maintaining them was unconscious. Kyouko watched as a huge piece of the platform lose its hold on the main pillar and fall down below with a large crash. The whole thing was falling apart.

"We take her with us. She's a Celestial and not even they are immortal," replied Kyouko as they both moved towards the unconscious Tenshi. The Yamabiko seemed to have recovered enough to stand on her own and place the Celestial's right arm over her. Mystia did the same and the three of them were soon in the air. The two youkais turned around to watch the colossal pillar slowly transform into a dense mist and fade away entirely.

The two conscious youkais nodded to one another before heading off into the Human Village.

* * *

"I brought the cavalry!" called Wriggle as she flew to meet the two youkais carrying a Celestial between them.

The Firefly Youkai met with them at the outskirts of the Human Village with one bewildered Daiyousei and one curious Rumia accompanied by two more rare faces. Tewi Inaba had her wooden mallet resting over her shoulders while Lily White was flying up and down in excitement.

Kyouko allowed Rumia to take Tenshi's weight while Lily took Mystia's place. After a brief and highly abbreviated version of the story, the group decided that they should all drink a dozen of rounds in the Black Cat as a form of celebration. With a bit of persuasion on her part, Wriggle managed to convince Tewi with a bit of cash to take the Celestial to Eientei for healing. Tewi made ten thousand yen that night without breaking a sweat.

The group said their goodbyes to Tewi at the entrance of the bar and went inside, all except for one.

Kyouko stood and leaned with her back against the bar's wall thinking to herself. This was one weird night, and it wasn't even a week long after she fought that immortal, she already face another tough opponent. But something about what Tenshi told her stuck to her mind.

_Those information brokers, how and why are they doing this? Of all the powerful people in Gensokyo, why does it have to be me? Why not the Shrine maiden or the Witch? I'm just an insignificant Yamabiko working as a priest in training at the temple... Why me?_

A sigh escaped her lips as a cold feeling spread on her cheek. Kyouko looked to see Mystia pressing a cold glass of water on her face with a smile. "A toast to the tenth greatest duo in Gensokyo."

And so, the night passed without incident. Kyouko decided to stay for a few minutes while chatting idly with Mystia about what happened that night. It was both amazing and terrifying experience for them to encounter. After that, the two said their goodbyes and Kyouko flew back to the temple.

* * *

Kyouko landed face first into her futon. This was both the worst and best off day she has ever had. Nothing completed it like a good night's sleep. The crickets chirped outside and the moon shined brightly, it was a peaceful night. Soon the hands of sleep slowly crept along the Yamabiko's tired mind.

Her eyes slowly closed and with a deep breath, Kyouko drifted off to sleep.

And then the door slammed open.

"Kyouko, wake up it's morning!" yelled Shou as she strode over to where the Yamabiko slept. The tiger youkai shook the sleeping girl hard before yanking away her blanket. "Wakey, wakey, rise and shine sleeping beauty! We got a big day today and you'll be doing us good if you get up now!"

Kyouko snored.

A vein appeared upon the tigress' head before she flicked a finger on the Yamabiko's forehead. "So... You're going to play this game, huh? Fine then!"

A series of thundering footsteps slowly faded to the distance as Shou left, only to grow louder as she returned. Carrying a big blue drum filled with water and Kogasa bathing within, Shou threw its contents on the Yamabiko in hopes to wake her up. Kyouko was showered with ice cold water and one surprised Karakasa yet she still unresponsive and snored.

Shou's anger popped like a bubble. "Kyouko? Kyouko!"

With cry of alarm the tiger youkai knelt beside the teal headed girl and shook her vigorously. "Kyouko?! Kyouko answer me! Hey, wake up, this isn't funny!"

It was then Shou noticed the Yamabiko's torn and dirtied clothing. Her alarm only increased further, "KYOUKO WAKE UP!"

* * *

_Nicolas Notes:_

_And here's the second chapter my friends. It may not be as good as the first one but you can still tell me what you think, point out weird mistakes and so on._

_There were a lot of references in this chapter with ZUN, book titles from other Authors only inverted. Paradise Gap is supposed to be Paradise Sukima by WillieG.R along with Reset Gap being Reset Sukima._

_Fail Transformation being Imperfect Metamorphosis by TakeFoxx._

_Gensokyo Straights being Gensokyo Twists by Radio McArbiter_

_Swordsmith's Grudge and the Spirit's Wish being Swordsmith's Wish and the Spirit's Grudge by Winged Ikaros_

_Death of a Kappa being Life of a Tengu by Mephiles666_

_Read their works, they're awesome. Of course I wouldn't be advertising if they weren't awesome, hm?_

_Well this chapter was a whopper. I blame the fight scenes and my guest appearance. yeah, I pulled the author avatar card, why? Because i wanted to :P._

_The hardest aprt of making this chapter was making it as freaking badass as possible. I know I failed at that one... I just hope the fights didn't drag on and on and on and on... The plot thickens and I'm investing a lot by posting the chapter now. _

_Please point out as many mistakes as you can, though please don't be too hard on me. I'm still a greenhorn no matter how you look at it. Please enjoy my stories and I'll do my best to live up to your expectations._

_Nick here signing out now, YAHOO~~~~_


	3. Chapter 3: Heart Throbbing Duet

_Nicolas Notes: FINALLY! ABOUT TIME TOO..._

* * *

It was autumn, and leaves fell from the dying trees. Of course there would be the occasional sweep of a broom and they would all be piled up together in neat piles. Kyouko leaned her broom to the trunk of the tree beside her and fixed her long light brown scarf. Winter was just over the horizon, and it seemed like the autumn goddesses were getting cranky now that their season was about to end. Still, there wasn't anything they'll be able to do, so goes the cycle of seasons after all.

Kyouko hummed herself a merry tune as she continued to sweep. It was odd, she didn't remember waking up nor did she remember getting dressed and going out to sweep. Entertaining the thought for a few seconds, Kyouko decided to dismiss it and resume her sweeping of the temple grounds.

Clouds raced across the blue sky and the sun shined brightly in the heavens, yet despite this, the chilly winds still bit on the Yamabiko's skin. She was thankful for the extra cloth she wore for if she didn't she would catch a cold for sure.

"Such a peaceful day," she whispered dreamily, turning her head at the temple's entrance to see if there were any visitors to greet.

Except there wasn't a temple entrance.

"Huh?" Kyouko brought her arms to her face as the orange leaves began to whirl around her like flocks of birds would do when panicked. She failed to see anything beyond the leaf storm other than the occasional brown that indicated the tree trunks. Kyouko began to feel scared; the leaves were now circling her as if she were in the eye of a hurricane, which is to say a rather leafy one. The Yamabiko grabbed her broom by instinct and gripped it tightly.

And then there was silence. The leaves rained all around her and through them she caught sight of a rather familiar person wearing a large black hat. A leaf got in the way of her vision but in the next moment the person was gone. A strong gust blew the rest of the leaves away revealing a strange landscape spread before her. She was standing on the edge of a cliff overseeing a land filled with wildflowers and grasses spreading into infinity over the horizon. Glancing behind her she found large rocky mountain ranges that seemed to stretch for miles beneath the gray sky.

"Byakuren? Shou? Mystia?" she called, fear slowly travelling up her neck, "Anyone?"

"You better run, she's on the watch," whispered a voice on her ear. Kyouko spun around with her broom raised in defense, only to find a circular black hat with a yellow ribbon tied around it. The Yamabiko hesitated for a moment before deciding to pick it up anyway. It was a strange hat that Kyouko couldn't help but be familiar with. Flipping it around, she then found a note stuck under the hat.

_Don't worry I'm a doctor I got this._

_Just remember to wear this hat all the time and you'll be fine, it'll help you relax a bit no matter how screwed up the situation seems to be._

_The kind monk lady told me to help so I helped, now I'm going to help you by telling you that there's nowhere to run since you're in HER world and that there's no way you can hide since you're in THEIR world. Redundant with the 'help' I know, I don't make sense sometimes but you get the idea. This wouldn't have to happen if you didn't pick the wrong pill, Neo!_

_Woops, wrong movie, but still, you know how dreams are weird like that._

_If you get in a fight then all you have to do is wear the hat, it'll help you break up to four walls but that's it. You know what? Scratch that._

_Just be careful._

_Xoxoxo_

_PS: Some weird person is stalking me; it'll take some time before we meet. Oh and I get to grab some of your precious things as payment~_

Kyouko didn't understand much of the note but figured that someone was looking out for her in this strange place. Though, judging by the notes, the person looking out for her was also considered strange. The kind monk lady was obviously Byakuren, but why did she have to get someone to help her? Why didn't she go and save Kyouko herself from this... Place?

The Yamabiko read the note once more and wondered who 'Her' and 'Their' was. No matter, she wasn't about to find out about anything just by standing around. Kyouko decided that she'll explore for a bit and judging from the way the middle part was written, it sounded like a warning, so maybe it's going to be wise not to stay at one place for long. Kyouko spotted a path on upon the mountain's face and decided to head for it; maybe she'll find someone who can really help her.

* * *

"Shou I want to know everything that has happened, please tell me," said Byakuren with a look of a mother worried for her child. Of course Shou understood her, the monk was very fond of Kyouko and seeing her at this state was heartbreaking.

There were four people within Kyouko's room not counting the unconscious Yamabiko herself. Ichirin sat beside the worried Byakuren with a distraught Unzan peeking from outside the windows while Murasa leaned with her back against one of Kyouko's posters looking very troubled. The very last person in the room was sitting right beside Kyouko herself, which was no other than Shou with an expression of guilt and concern.

Apparently it's been over five hours since Shou discovered that the Yamabiko refused to wake up. She immediately ran into Murasa as she was about call for help who rushed to Eientei to get Byakuren who was being released while Shou took care of Kyouko in the mean time. She tried everything from yelling at the Yamabiko to wake up to taking out two large gongs from the storage room and hit them.

Kyouko simply refused to wake up and remained asleep and snoring.

That was when Murasa came back with Byakuren in tow. As expected, the monk broke down in tears. What else would you expect when you see the child of your house on a futon with burns and rips on her clothes while refusing to respond to anything you say except for a snore? In her short time in the temple, Kyouko has become a part of their little family, it was only normal that everyone would be troubled.

After a few minutes on calming everyone down, Shou proposed on finding a solution to Kyouko's deep slumber, she already told them beforehand that conventional ways of solving this problem didn't work. That was the cue for a very grim Mamizou to come in. She took one look on Kyouko and immediately told them that she'll get help. It was already thirty minutes since she left and now we are back in the present.

"Very well, but this is all I know, okay?" said Shou as she fidgeted in her position, "All I know is that I woke up, brushed my teeth and put on my clothes. After serving myself some tea and reciting some morning sutras, I immediately went to Kyouko's room to wake her up since she had this bad habit of sleeping in."

The tigress drew deep breath before continuing, "I yelled at her as usual and I got irritated when she refused to respond so I went out, went inside Murasa's room to get a drum full of water—"

"Hey! So it was you!" yelled the phantom while pointing an accusing finger, only to earn her a glare from Ichirin. Shou ignored this.

"—And Kogasa, and proceeded to dump the entire contents on her. Now I'm gonna tell you this, that the water was freezing cold and she should've woken up from that—"

"You idiot she could've gotten hypothermia for that!" yelled Murasa yet Shou only ignored her.

"—But she didn't. That's when I saw the rips on her clothes and the burn marks all over her sleeves. I don't know how this happened but I can tell that it's bad..." Shou finished in a grave note, causing the entire room to remain silent save for Kyouko's persistent snoring.

"Alright, alright, alright, this is an incident!" declared Murasa, however was ignored yet again.

"Shou, did you notice Kyouko acting strangely these past few days? Maybe you'll have an idea on what did this to her," suggested Ichirin as she continued to pat the tearful monk on the back.

"I don't know. Well, all I can say is that she's been waking up later and later. If only I could've notice the signs..." said Shou while burying her face in her palms.

"Look here, lassies, I'm going to find the scallywag that did this to my cannon fodder and rip 'er a new one! What say you?" said Murasa with a dark smile on her face, but unfortunately was ignored.

"It's all my fault!" came Byakuren's muffled sob, "If only I kept a better eye on her. She wouldn't be this... This way... If only I went along with her on her day off. What if the shrine maiden got her? Oh poor, poor Kyouko. She was a weak youkai, a sweet girl, yet who would've been this cruel to do this?"

"No, Lady Hijiri. Please don't blame yourself. If anyone is at fault, it should be me," admitted Shou with her head bowed low, "If you see it fit, you may banish me from the temple for failing at my duties."

"Shou! There's no need for that, you haven't failed in anything!" cried Ichirin with a look of frustration and shock, "And please Lady Hijiri, pull yourself together. We won't be able to do anything for Kyouko if we all break down like this. I'm sure she'll be happier if we all helped each other in solving this."

Byakuren dabbed her eyes on a white handkerchief and blew her nose, "You're right Ichirin. There's no use worrying like this..."

To everyone's surprise, the monk stood up all of a sudden and strode out of the room going to Buddha-knows-where. One slack jawed Murasa broke the silence that threatened to engulf them.

"Well, that went well. What do we do now?" she asked turning to Ichirin for answers.

"What? Don't look at me, I got nothing!" said the Nyuudo user with her arms raised in defense.

"You're the smart one here, why don't you think of something?" countered the phantom angrily.

On other times, Ichirin might have blushed at the praise, however this time she found it insulting. Stealing a glance at Unzan, she decided against lashing back verbally to Murasa and instead moved a strand of Kyouko's hair from her face. The phantom seemed to read the atmosphere and leaned back on the wall, glancing at Shou who has been quiet the whole time. After a few seconds of staring, Murasa released a tired sigh and directed her gaze out of the window.

Problems like this come and go all the time, yet this was the only problem that got them all hyped up. She used to solve problems with either sinking or crushing them with water but this... This wasn't something to be solved easily. Murasa considered on telling Shou and Ichirin to stop moping and take Kyouko to Eientei, but something held her back. Something that told her that she shouldn't let Kyouko out of her sight.

With another sigh, Murasa may have found out what her friends were thinking. They were feeling this sense of protectiveness over the little Yamabiko just as she did. Maybe that's the reason they didn't consider taking Kyouko out. They wanted to be at her side every step of her recovery. As stupid as it was, Murasa couldn't help but be impressed with the idiots she lived with. Heck, maybe she was an idiot herself.

All heads turned to the sliding door as someone stepped through. With the familiar striped tail and leaf on her head, it wouldn't take a fool to recognize a Tanuki, especially the one and only Mamizou Futatsuiwa. In contrast with her good natured attitude, Mamizou seemed a bit tired yet kept her face devoid of emotion as she carried with her a fragile package. The package in her arms was in the form of a young girl with grey-greenish hair and orange clothes, apparently sleeping with a stupid smile on her face.

Mamizou placed the girl beside the sleeping Kyouko and wiped her brow with her wrist.

"Ladies and Unzan, I would like you to meet Koishi Komeiji. Our ticket to getting Kyouko back," she said a grin breaking through her stone cold features.

* * *

"Hello? Anyone here?" called Kyouko as she opened the door into an old wooden house.

Closing the door behind her in disappointment, the Yamabiko decided to check the other houses for signs of life. After what seemed to be hours of walking along the mountainside, she had finally come across what seemed to be the only sign of civilization for miles. Excited that she had found a way back home and at the prospect of meeting other people, Kyouko embarked on a mad dash for it, forgetting for a moment that she could fly.

Much to her disappointment, she was met with a ghost town, completely deserted and devoid of any life. No one walked its gloomy streets and no one even went out to greet her. It was almost creepy now that the sky adopted a dark shade of gray while the doors and windows let out squeaking noises. For some reason, this town almost seemed familiar, almost nostalgic. As if... Kyouko had been here before.

She walked by a burned down store and surveyed its insides. Yup, just like the previous description, the place looks pretty burned almost all of the furniture has turned to ash.

That's when she heard the sobbing. The Yamabiko's ears stood up and began to flap at the sound; she immediately turned her head from left to right in search for the source. Finally when she found it, Kyouko broke into a run, her broom gripped tightly in her hand. She rounded up a corner before deciding to hide herself. Apparently she wasn't quite alone. She peeked from behind the wall of a building she was hiding in and spotted two black robed figures approach a trembling figure sitting with its back against the wall.

Kyouko half expected them to reveal wicked blades under their large sleeves, but instead a normal looking hand poked from underneath. One of the figures gave the trembling one a pat on the head. With the use of her youkai eyes, Kyouko managed to make out the trembling figure to be a child with green hair and dog ears. Now that... Was weird. One of the robed people drew their hood back and revealed their face.

It was a woman exiting her twenties and entering her early thirties. Her long blonde hair hung behind her back as strands of it fell upon her face. She was now kneeling beside the green haired child with a warm smile on her face as the other robed figure stood alert behind her back.

Kyouko felt weird. Why did this scene feel familiar? Who... were these people? She almost gave in to the urge of walking out of her hiding place and asking what was going on.

Now here's when things got even stranger. Kyouko was well over twenty feet away yet even over such a great distance she still managed to hear the woman say, "She's cute, let's take her with us."

The words rung around Kyouko's head like an echo, an endless echo going back and forth. That voice, she knew that voice. In fact she knew this scene. She saw this scene over a thousand of time in her dreams yet she always assumed that the woman was Byakuren, comforting her and deciding to let her stay at the temple. But now seeing it with her eyes, Kyouko didn't understand. She was confused.

And then it felt like the whole world was spinning. Wait... No... The world _was_ spinning in a blur, gray, white, black red, green, a myriad of colors invading the Yamabiko's vision. It was like that leaf twister only now it was... different. Kyouko didn't understand it, much less know about it, but all she wanted it to do was stop.

"Whoa, I think I'm gonna—"

Before she can even release her dinner, the world came to a halt and Kyouko's ears were met with the sound of a crowd cheering. An object strapped over her shoulder which she could only identify as an electric guitar with the shape of her broom made her buckle at its weight. When she looked down on her clothes, she let out a strangled yelp when she realized it was her concert outfit. A black leather version of her dress with silver spikes and black combat boots. Kyouko's eyes widened at the glare of the red and pink lights focused on her as she stood on a wooden stage, the audience going wild as the red curtains were drawn.

She was surprised to see her left hand gripping a piece of paper which wasn't there a second before. When she glanced through its contents, she was surprised to recognize the familiar hand writing.

_Hi, it's me again! Seems like I screwed up on a thing or two but don't worry, everything's just fine~_

_Now to be blunt, you may already know this but you're in a dream. Yup You're in the Dream World, baby! Make sure you don't get an arrow to the knee!_

_Hey, I made a funny. Stupid limerick lessons. Anyway, you gotta be careful. Not everything around you is real._

_Besides, since when was the last time you saw another Yamabiko?_

_Xoxoxo_

Dream World? Then that means...

"Hey Kyouko, you ready?" asked a familiar voice at her side.

"Mystia?" the Yamabiko managed to turn around to see her band mate smiling at her in front of a microphone. With a knowing wink Mystia began to address the crowd, driving them wild.

"Hellooooo Gensokyoooo~!" she greeted, causing fresh screams of excitement and cheers to erupt. There were so many people that Kyouko was taken aback by their sheer numbers. Youkai, fairies, celestials, spirits, ghosts and humans. Some of them Kyouko managed to recognize despite being among the sea of faces. She could've sworn that she caught the sight of the leader of the Human Village, the Phoenix Immortal, the Celestial, the bookkeeper girl and...

A chill went down her spine when she saw him. It was him; he was staring at her from the crowd. That boy from the shop, the one the turtle told to go away. Kyouko still didn't understand why she was so afraid of him, but when she saw him point to his head about something, her thoughts immediately fell upon her round black hat. When she looked back to the spot on where he was supposed to be, he was simply... gone. Had she imagined it? Just who was he and how was he popping in and out of places like that?

Her thoughts were interrupted when the sounds of music being played entered her ears. She glanced behind her and found out that two large sound amplifiers called 'stereos' were playing the beat for the drums and other instruments. All Kyouko had to do was to play her guitar/broom along with the rhythm. It shouldn't be that hard since it was song she and the night sparrow played quite often.

When the music finished the introduction and broke into the main song, Mystia started to sing and the crowd either went even wilder or danced in place. That was when Kyouko saw the many more youkais sitting on bleachers high up in the air, all cheering for their band's name. It was this great ecstatic feeling that enveloped Kyouko and warmed her heart that made her feel like she was glowing. It was the beauty of the music, the stage, and the roar of the crowd. Everything was perfect. It was almost like a dream.

_Not everything around you is real. Dream World._

The smile was wiped off her face and Kyouko stopped playing her guitar. The music died and crowd disappeared as the lights went out. The only light left was the spotlight, illuminating Mystia's body. She had stopped singing, and Kyouko failed what she was feeling because of the mask obscuring the night sparrow's face. This isn't real. None of it is...

The music and excitement washed the words of the note away, away from Kyouko's memory. This was bad...

The Yamabiko swallowed nervously as Mystia slowly turned towards Kyouko, her hands balled into trembling fists.

"Why did you stop playing, Kyouko?" she asked in a voice totally unlike her own, "Are you tired of our music? Don't you like it anymore?"

"Wait, Misty, I—" Kyouko tried to explain yet Mystia cut her off.

"WHAT'S WRONG KYOUKO?! EVERYTHING WAS FINE RIGHT NOW, YET WHY DID YOU STOP, KYOUKO?!" shrieked the night sparrow, her wings growing larger and larger as she slowly made her way towards the trembling Yamabiko.

"No, please, let me explain!" cried Kyouko, backing away from her friend, only to fall on her butt as she tripped over a cord. She watched wide eyed as the black string suddenly wrapped itself around her feet, tying her down in place. She tried to struggle against her bonds, but that was when another cord bound her wrists together rendering her helpless. Mystia's menacing figure was close now, and there was no way Kyouko could escape.

"Stupid little mountain gremlin, taking all the fame and attention. It's always about Kyouko this and Kyouko that! But what about me?!" screamed Mystia, her shrill voice filled with hysteria, "I WAS THE ONE WHO MADE CHOUJUU GIGAKU! I WAS THE ONE WHO WORKED HARD AND WELL TO BUILD A STAGE AND INVITE PEOPLE TO WATCH! BUT YOU! OH YES, YOU! YOU DID NOTHING YOU SPOTLIGHT STEALING GREMLIN! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU! I WISH YOU'D DIE!"

The Yamabiko was nothing short of horrified right now as she succumbed to Mystia's verbal abuse. All Kyouko could do was curl in a tight ball, reciting a sutra against fear and hoped that Byakuren would come in save her. She was scared ad having to hear her best friend tell her all of these nasty things was pure torture. Tears ran down her cheeks as she watched Mystia's wins grow larger and becoming more white, losing its pink and brown color.

Her eyes were turning red from anger and voice started to become distorted it was terrifying. That was when she thought about the note, no, the first note...

_Just remember to wear this hat all the time and you'll be fine, it'll help you relax a bit no matter how screwed up the situation seems to be._

Kyouko still had her black hat on top of her head despite the fall. She began to think about it in hopes it'll keep her calm like the letter had told her. She didn't know if it would work, but she would do almost anything to make Mystia go away. Surprisingly enough her nerves began to relax while her muscles didn't tense anymore. Soon, she stopped struggling and the cords that bound her untied themselves and fell on the floor.

The faux Mystia started to laugh out loud, her voice was distorted scaring the heck out of Kyouko. Her feathers slowly turning into pure white, Kyouko watched as Mystia's hair grew longer and longer until it reach all the way to her back. She also noticed that the night sparrow's dress began to change into a pink and white dress that reached down to her ankles. Something was wrong, Kyouko couldn't see, there was so many gray ripples filling her vision. The laughter, she could hear it still. It won't stop, not even if tears started to fall down her face it won't stop.

And then Kyouko felt like she was falling.

* * *

"What?" blurted out Murasa with a look of utter bewilderment, "Mamizou... What the devil are ya thinkin' kidnappin' little girls!? That there is a crime!"

"Okay, okay, but seriously I can explain," said Mamizou testily yet Shou started to flood her with questions.

"How do you know that this girl will be able to help? Where did you find her? Oh my Buddha she's a satori! Shouldn't she be underground? Mamizou what did you do?" cried the tiger youkai with a shocked expression, pointing a dramatic finger at the Tanuki who looked completely unamused.

"This is a crime, a crime I say! Mamizou how could you?!" said Ichirin with a hand clasped over her heart as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Unzan on the other hand had a gigantic pink palm covering his forehead as he watched the strange proceedings.

Quick recap, Mamizou had made her dynamic entry through the door while carrying an unconscious drooling girl, saying that she was the key to having Kyouko return to the world of the awakened. Now back to the present, three nut/airheaded youkais were jumping from one conclusion to another, much to Mamizou's chagrin. Judging by the agitated twitch of her ears, she was fast losing her patience. The Tanuki attempted to compose herself amidst the accusations and threats being thrown at her, trying to remember Byakuren's words regarding perseverance and patience.

Only problem is that Mamizou's patience just got sucker punched by frustration.

"WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?!" she exploded, causing a ship phantom, an Avatar of Bishamonten, and a Nyuudo user to all shut their traps. Once that peace has been restored, Mamizou inhaled a deep breath and closed her eyes, fixing her askew glasses while she was at it. "By the love of all things sacred, will you idiots listen to me for a sec? Alright? Good. Now listen here, this girl."

She pointed a finger towards the sleeping satori named Koishi.

"Just agreed to help out in retrieving Kyouko from god-knows-where from her sleep. All I had to do is negotiate for a bit and say Byakuren's name for a few times, now stop!" she warned as the three youkais opened their mouths to speak, "I know what you're going to say, and I don't care. It's all necessary if we want to get this kid's cooperation. Now Koishi here has the ability to read and manipulate the subconscious. The moment I laid eyes upon our cute Yamabiko, I immediately sought Koishi out to help. How did I know that Koishi was the key to get Kyouko back? That's where dumb luck and intuition came handy."

The Tanuki inhaled a sharp breath before continuing, "So before Koishi passed out, she explained to me briefly on what she could tell about Kyouko's situation based on what I described to her. She explained that our Yamabiko girl is stuck in her Dreamplane, probably caused by an outside force or power that made her that way. Now Kyouko's Dreamplane is basically located among hundreds and thousands of others in the Dream World. It'll take Koishi a long while before she finds Kyouko's and get her out of there. She told me how dreams are connected to the images the subconscious projects, but that's when I lost track and didn't understand what she was saying by then. What I do know is that Koishi's our only chance to get Kyouko back."

There was silence in the room as the three other youkais pondered on the information that was just force fed to them.

"But can this girl guarantees that she'll get Kyouko back?" asked Shou in a sceptical tone, eyeing the sleeping satori warily.

"Yeah, and what would she be able to get from helping Kyouko here?" questioned Ichirin, Unzan nodding in approval.

"Well, she did say that she'll get our friend back and that she'll protect her while getting our Yamabiko out of there," replied Mamizou while sheepishly scratching the back of her head, "So I don't see any reason not to trust her. And she didn't seem to have anything better to do at the time so she instantly agreed as soon as I told her."

"Either the girl's and idiot or she's just that nice," said Murasa while crossing her arms.

"She's whimsical," stated Ichirin, earning her a nod of approval from Unzan.

"Well, let's just hope that everything will work out," sighed Mamizou, landing on her butt in exhaustion.

All they can do was pray. Pray that Kyouko would come back to them the same and smiling.

The four youkais which were awake all released a sigh in unison. They were about to drown themselves in silence when the door slammed open.

"KYOUKO?! I CAME AS SOON AS I HEARD, WHAT HAPPE—"one dishevelled and obviously not-looking-good Mystia Lorelei faltered in her words as they died in her throat.

The four youkais present all stared at her with wide eyes, shocked and surprised at the sparrow's bold and dynamic entry. All was well before Murasa and Shou lunged for the night sparrow's throat.

* * *

A groan escaped Kyouko's lips as she slowly returned to consciousness. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see a peaceful blue sky looking back at her. A hand rubbing her sore forehead, Kyouko sat up as she surveyed her surroundings with one eye open. She jumped at the sight of the temple gate standing right in front of her. She was home, her nightmare had ended. Maybe all of those things she saw were just a bad dream.

Thank Buddha it was all over, as sigh of relief went out of her mouth. The Yamabiko slowly got up on her feet and dusted her dress. She was glad to be back in her old clothes; they were much comfortable on the skin and were really light compared to her concert outfit. Still, it was strange on how realistic that dream was... And that... monster Mystia turned into. Kyouko could felt her skin crawl at the thought of the laughter.

She shook her head of the thoughts and allowed a smile to appear on her lips, at least the dream was over, that's all that mattered. She picked up her fallen broom and was about to open the temple gate when something caught her sight.

It was the round black hat.

Kyouko felt blood leave her face and her hands begin to tremble as they rested upon the temple doors. Swallowing hard, the Yamabiko slowly made her way towards the hat and carefully picked it up from the floor. What could this mean? The hat was still here, so—

Her face scrunched up into a frown. _No, this is real life! I'll prove it!_

Without hesitation, Kyouko proceeded to pinch her left arm hard. She let out a strangled yelp and immediately rubbed her red skin. This was reality because if this were a dream then she would have woken up by now. All she had to do was walk inside the temple and proceed with her daily life. Maybe someone just left the hat and forgot about it. She could talk to Ichirin about it in the Lost and Found corner.

Placing both of the broom and hat into her left hand, Kyouko pushed the wooden gate open with her right. The familiar grounds filled her vision, causing a warm glow of comfort to swell up inside her chest after that terrifying nightmare. She could use a bit of food now and—

"Youkai!" shouted a man's voice before Kyouko was hit by a stone.

She turned her wary eyes towards the culprit who was accompanied by many other clean shaven monks and normal villagers. They all looked at her with scared expressions like she was some kind of monster. The children hung to their mothers with all their might while the women hid behind the men who were grabbing stones and were throwing them at Kyouko. The teal haired girl could only shield herself from the mob's stones unable to do anything.

"Ouch, hey it hurts!" she cried, sparkling tears forming around her eyes, "Please stop! It hurts! What did I ever do to you?!"

Her words however bounced off the terrified crowd's ears. They seemed to be worshipers of the temple, leaving shortly after they had finished their time spent there. All seemed to be well with them when a youkai appeared out of nowhere threatening to eat them. And that youkai was Kyouko. At least that's what she could guess from their actions, but she was confused. Why would he hurt them? She was a kind hearted youkai and she wouldn't hurt a human even if someone forced her to!

The force of the stones was beginning to grow intense and the words that accompanied them only made matters worse.

"Scourge, be gone from our sight!" yelled a villager.

"Throw some more stones, it'll scare her away!" shouted another.

"Youkais killed my husband, this one is no different, someone kill her now!" shrieked a woman

"Be careful she might bit you, try not to get close and stick to stones! Eat this taint of the land!" shouted another and Kyouko felt a warm liquid trickle down her brow as a heavy stone collided with her skull.

Her knees trembled so hard that she lost her balance and fell on the ground as she desperately shielded herself with her arms. Why would they do this? She had never hurt a human before in her entire life. Just what was with all this madness? It hurt, it hurt everywhere. Her arms, her legs, her sides, and her head, everything hurt. Their words were the worst, worse than what Mystia flung at her earlier.

Kyouko covered her head with her arms and stared at the ground. Hot tears falling from her eyes and into the floor. Soon she began to sob.

"Don't let her trick you! Can't you people see that it's a trap!" yelled a villager.

"The rest of you, grab weapons! It's time to get rid of this youkai before anyone else falls for her trick!" shouted another, there were murmurs of agreement over the volley of catcalls and insults.

Kyouko let go of the hat and her broom as she curled into a tight ball. Why was this happening? This... This was the worst. She wanted it to end. To die...

There were the sounds of footsteps approaching her yet she didn't even bother defending herself as blunt objects, probably wood or something began to slam against her small frame. The villagers obviously consumed in their bloodlust were relentless in their assault. One female villager roughly grabbed Kyouko by the hair and slapped her. Another punched her in the gut. Finally they let her go as they formed a large circle around her. The peaceful blue sky now turned red as they all screamed, yelled, and shouted their insults at her like a chant. They got creative with their words as they gnashed their teeth. It was as if they wanted her to die with the use of nothing but words.

Kyouko clasped her hands on both pairs of her ears, because she knew it was working.

There were no more flying stones so she allowed her eyes to open by a fraction.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" roared a familiar voice.

The Yamabiko's eyes flew wide open at the sound of hope. _Shou?_

However, the person she saw was a browned haired woman with the same hairstyle and clothing as the tiger youkai she knew. Unfortunately their hair an eye colors didn't exactly match. Accompanying her was a white robed woman with black hair and greenish eyes and another woman dressed similar to a nun. The three of the flanked a fourth woman with brown hair and black white robes.

"Shou! Murasa! Ichirin! Lady Byakuren!" cried Kyouko in delight at the sight of her saviours. They would help her, she was sure they will—

"A youkai! How dare you trespass upon holy grounds!?" roared Shou in the same fierce manner as displayed earlier.

"Have you no respect, little demon? To speak Lady Hijiri's name out loud and so casually is blasphemy!" shouted Ichirin, her eyes revealing such rage that Kyouko has never seen before.

"Trying to at familiar as if we know you, eh? Sorry little youkai but we're not falling for cheap tricks. Might as well be exterminated, Lady Hijiri, the stage is yours," Murasa stepped out of the way as Byakuren walked forward, her expression remained indifferent the whole time. Kyouko felt scared, this wasn't right. How could they not know her? Those eyes, she didn't like the look of those eyes. This wasn't the Byakuren she knew. This wasn't the Byakuren she loved.

"Help me," pleaded Kyouko as she knelt before the High Priestess.

"I, Byakuren Hijiri, servant of Bishamonten and preacher of his congregation, hereby banish this infernal abomination from the lands and into the abyss!" thunder rolled at Byakuren's command, causing Kyouko to glow in a painful yellow light. It burned, she can feel it. This was real. This was reality. She was going to die...

Kyouko had enough time to say, "Why?" before she began to dissolve into golden light.

* * *

"Ladies!" cried Ichirin all of a sudden as Murasa and Shou caught Mystia in a four limbed leg lock.

"What, can't you see we're busy here?!" growled Murasa as she did her best to choke Mystia with all her might.

"Quiet Ichirin, I can't snap this bird's spine if you're loud!" barked Shou intent on doing what she just said.

"Kyouko's not breathing!" yelled the Nyuudo user in frustration, causing the three youkais to immediately untangle.

"WHAT?!" said the three along with Mamizou.

* * *

Kyouko awaited oblivion. She gazed one last time at the High Priestess' cold expression, knowing that it wasn't such a bad memory to remember for all eternity. She breathed her last as the pain became too unbearable for her to take.

That was when she heard clapping.

"Wow~ I never knew that things got this dramatic inside your head. You really like theatrics, no?" said a girl's voice beneath the temple's gate.

A few seconds later, someone pulled Kyouko away from the light with a bit more force than she was comfortable with. Once the Yamabiko was away from the light, everyone else except the girl took five steps backwards. Kyouko felt weird, the pain was gone yet adrenaline still pumped within her veins. It then hit her like a brick when she realized that she didn't die. At the urge's call, she knelt down and kissed the ground in thanks. She didn't know why she did that, but it was as if she subconsciously did it without thinking.

That was when she realized that this was what it felt like to be alive.

It was unlike the feeling of battle she had experienced quite recently, but it was like she was at the brink of death and she knew there was no way out when all of a sudden, by some dumb stroke of luck or fate screwed up again, she lived. In battle she had a chance to turn the tides to her favour but this... This was something different.

"You're really funny, you know that?" giggled a voice which brought her back to her current situation.

Kyouko slowly turned to her side and examined her true saviour. It was obvious enough that the one who helped her was a girl, but this was one had weird appendages wrapped around her torso and were attached to her ankles. These cords however, were connected to a single blue orb positioned over the girl's heart. Her olive green skirt billowed lightly as a light breeze passed over head, causing the girl to blow a strand of her grey-greenish hair from her face.

A wide smile spread upon her features as her green eyes had an empty look in them yet deep within a persistent sparkle could be seen. She patted the large sleeves of her orange shirt to clean it off the dust it accumulated.

"Ah, where are my manners? The name's Dr. Koishi Komeiji PhD, major in Freudian psychology and Subconscious Manipulation~! Nice to meet'cha!" introduced Koishi, extending a hand for Kyouko to shake. The Yamabiko was reluctant at first, but accepted it in the end. This caused Koishi's smile to break into a grin, "I was the one sending you the notes, so did you find them?"

"Y-y-yeah," replied Kyouko, wincing at the pain of her bruised jaw.

Koishi frowned for a moment and poked Kyouko's wounded face. The Yamabiko flinched not only because of the pain that flared up, but on how cold the other girl's touch was. It was almost as if she was lifeless.

"Hm, what are you doing? You do know that this is dream, right?" asked Koishi with a puzzled look n her face as she circled Kyouko and examined her injuries.

"Um, y-yes?"

"So why aren't you healing yourself? This is your dream so you can practically make anything possible!" stated Koishi as if it was an obvious fact.

"Huh?"

"Seems like you need practical training... Alright, here!" Koishi pointed a finger at Kyouko's broom and flicked it towards the Yamabiko. Kyouko yelped as the broom rose into the air and flew towards her, lucky for her she managed to catch it in time before it smacked her in the face.

Staring wide eyed at the broom, Kyouko said, "Whoa..."

"Now imagine that inside that broom is a sword!" commanded Koishi.

"What?" asked the Yamabiko in disbelief.

"Just believe~! Oh and you're about to be bludgeoned to death in three... two... one..."

Kyouko whirled around and blocked with the wooden staff with her broom. Maybe just half of her broom as a thin blade slowly revealed itself to the world, casting a wicked gleam. It wasn't exactly what you can call a sword, but hey, it can pass for one. The other half of her broom, mainly the one with the brush, acted as a clever sheathe to hide the blade within the bamboo. Without thinking, Kyouko kicked the man away with her right foot.

_This... This is impossible,_ she thought as she gazed at the narrow blade.

Kyouko turned her gaze to the left and blocked a strike with her sword, slashing horizontally with the remainder of her broom an striking the offender's ribs. Kyouko delivered a roundhouse kick to the villager and he was sent flying through the air. The Yamabiko seemed shocked that she hurt a human, when Koishi began to talk behind her.

"This is a dream, and those are just illusions. They're not real and they will never be," said the girl as she picked up the black hat resting on the ground and placed it on her head, "The same goes for your injuries. You assumed that if they hit you, you would get hurt. You assumed that if the stone collides with your skull, you'll get a cut. If you continue to acknowledge those things then they will become real. If you refuse, then they won't. You won't get scratches, you won't get injured. Heck if you just believe in what you think, then it will become real. This is the Dream World, sistah! And here, you make your own reality, Grandma Gappy be damned!"

Kyouko ignored the unimportant bits of what her saviour had said and began applying the technique to rid herself of her injuries. So far she wasn't doing goo since nothing was happening. She glanced behind her back to see Koishi giggling sinisterly as her hat hid her eyes, "Oh and by the way, it's easier said than done. Human at your six!"

The Yamabiko acted on instinct and spun around, sweeping low with her leg and stabbing downward with her sword. The village let out a grunt before disappearing off into nothingness.

Koishi was right, nothing was real. This was all in her head.

"I think... She finally got it," said Koishi as she watched Kyouko ready herself to retaliate.

* * *

"Well, lookie here girls," spat Murasa, staring at Mystia with contempt, "A lost bird, a lost bird that never learned to fly..."

"So, explain to us on what in the name of all thing's sacred and unholy is Kyouko been doing these days?" asked Shou Toramaru through gritted teeth as she glared angrily at the pink haired night sparrow, "And don't bother lying because we all know here that you're the only outside influence our girl has outside the temple."

Once Mamizou has successfully tied and bound the raging Ship Phantom and the murderous Tiger Youkai in a very strong rope, Mystia Lorelei was forced to sit right in front of them for interrogation. The room has only lost one person, Ichirin, saying that she had other businesses to take care of and that she had to go see Byakuren if she was doing okay. Admittedly, she was cautious on leaving Kyouko to Murasa and Shou's care though Mamizou assured her that she'll have nothing to worry about with the Tanuki there.

And so the room was once more quiet save for the two unconscious girls' snoring.

Mystia was fidgeting in her seat as she avoided the two youkais' glares. The night sparrow looked like she had a rough night, almost as if she experienced the same thing with whatever happened to Kyouko. Mystia had her dress torn and ripped, dirt was smeared across her face and her pink hair now had a dull color in it seeing that it wasn't washed or combed for some time. What was strange was the obvious smell of smoke that latched itself to her, though this was easily dismissed seeing how the girl worked in a lamprey stand.

One of her long nailed fingers was nervously scratching the wooden floors as she sat on her legs, guilt filled her expression. Seeing her appearance out of nowhere and her words as she entered the room, Shou and Murasa had every right to be suspicious.

The only reason the Tiger Youkai and the Ship Phantom wasn't tearing the night sparrow into tiny ribbons was the distraction Kyouko provided by failing to breathe for five agonizing seconds. At Ichirin's word a couple of minutes earlier, everyone broke into panic, giving Mamizou the chance to subdue the two youkais before they hurt Mystia again.

"Um, okay, I'll tell you everything I know, but..." she stole a nervous glance at the Tanuki beside her and saw Mamizou nodding before continuing, "Please don't hurt me or interrupt me... I'm already nervous and terrified as I am..."

"You're in no place to make requests you—"

"Shou..." muttered Mamizou through half closed eyes. There wasn't any trace of hostility in the tone, but the warning was there. The Tanuki could be scary sometimes...

"Fine, you heard the lady, go shoot your mouth off!" snapped Murasa, obviously growing impatient and uncomfortable with being bound next to Shou.

"Okay, I'll make this as short as possible, Kyouko told me how it all started," said Mystia as she inhaled a deep breath before beginning, "She said that it began after you guys all went to the festival, leaving her and a sick Miss Toramaru behind. She explained to me how a certain Fujiwara no Mokou visited in the night and attacked her, obviously cross about our, uh, music and concerts."

Murasa was about to open her mouth to comment, yet Mamizou's death glare forced her to stop herself.

"The fight went all night with Kyouko not backing down. I know this may sound farfetched but she told me how she fought with all she could to stop the Immortal from burning down your temple," resumed Mystia in a firm voice colored with pride, "She knew that with Miss Toramaru too sick to help and that she needed her sleep to get better, Kyouko didn't even bother waking you up. Instead, she faced the Immortal head on. She didn't ask for help from anyone else. She knew that there won't be a temple to save if she flew to the Hakurei Shrine in the middle of the festival, so... She fought."

The three other youkais had all different expressions. Shou sported a slack jawed appearance with her eyes bulging out wide while Murasa was opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, her expression mixed with awe and disbelief. Mamizou however was the only one who remained composed and nodded on every word Mystia said.

"She fought despite being hurt, she fought despite her hatred for battle, she fought because she knew how special this temple was to all of you, so she didn't back down," Mystia raised her head and ceased her scratching on the floor, "You know, even if she was at the brink of losing, she stared her torturer in the eye and gave her a head butt. Kyouko risked everything she had just so the temple could see another sunrise. The most amazing that happened is... That she won. Kyouko didn't win for the sake of surviving; she won because she cared for you, all of you in the temple."

Everyone remained silent.

"So yeah, I thought I should just mention that seeing how most people here treats her like some underappreciated shit," cursed Mystia as she sheepishly scratched the back of her head. A small smile appeared upon Mamizou's lips as she continued her tale, "But let's get down to business... Apparently just last night, Kyouko got into a fight once more. This time with a Celestial. I suppose you guys are familiar with a certain Tenshi Hinanawi?"

Shou and Murasa nodded in perfect synch while Mamizou remained still as a stone.

"Well, the Celestial in question attacked me and my customers in my own stall, all after Kyouko arrived telling me her encounter with the Immortal," said the night sparrow, licking her dry lips as she went on, "Right, so this crazy Tenshi started hailing us with keystones and we just did what any sane person will do; we flew. Unfortunately, Miss Hinanawi got us cornered. I told of my customers to get help while I held the Celestial off; Kyouko here went into a mental breakdown after Tenshi told us how she was after our Yamabiko."

Mystia let out a sigh, "I ought her, and obviously lost... That was when Kyouko herself stepped in and accepted Tenshi's challenge, and girl do I tell you both on how stupid her reason was for fighting. But I'll get to that later. Anyway, she and Kyouko fought, yet I didn't get to see anything since they were so high up in the sky. From what I can tell, it was pretty intense. By the time I managed to recover, Kyouko was on the verge of losing if it weren't for me interfering."

A proud grin grew across Mystia's dirty face, "We fought her and won. Can you believe it? Two insignificant youkais standing up and going against a Celestial? A freaking daughter of Heaven and Earth? I mean wow..."

Shou was about to tell Mystia that she was going off topic, but decided against it when Mystia spoke once more.

"Moving on," said Mystia, "Kyouko told me how Tenshi let it slip that someone was inviting people to fight Kyouko, saying that she's '_A fine source of entertainment'_ for youkais everywhere. Tenshi was the first customer of this mystery person, and that she admitted to Kyouko that she was fighting her out of pure boredom!"

"WHAT?!" yelled Shou and Murasa in unison.

"I know crazy right? But get this; if someone's running around out there telling every dangerous youkai in existence who has nothing better to do in their time to show up all sudden and attack Kyouko then why do you think that certain 'someone' would expend all of their efforts in doing that? Why would they go through all that trouble just to make Kyouko's life miserable, huh?" asked Mystia with a wild gleam behind her eyes. She liked playing detective.

"Because they got something against Kyouko?" replied Shou, obviously unsure of what to say. Might as well play along, but the fact that there was this mystery person involved in Kyouko's predicament has piqued her interest and rage. Whoever this person was, they were in for serious beat down.

"But the bigger question is, who this landlubber is," said Murasa. The thought of someone targeting her practice dummy for some stupid reason was nothing short of insulting. No one gets Minamitsu motherfucking Murasa's loot or booty. No one...

"Right, so it has to be someone who hates Kyouko to her guts. But who and why?" said Mystia at last, stating the forty billion yen questions.

"That's for Kyouko to find out," muttered Mamizou who had been strangely quiet throughout the proceeding, "That is if she ever grows the spine to face her current challenge."

"Huh? But, why her? Can't we just find this person ourselves so that Kyouko doesn't have to hurt herself?" asked Mystia, looking at the sagely Tanuki in disbelief. _What the heck is she saying? Doesn't she want to let Kyouko rest?_

"You misunderstand me, Miss Lorelei," replied Mamizou as if reading the night sparrow's mind, "To quote a certain quote that has been fabricated so many times in the Outside, 'When life gives you lemons, head butt the lemon'. Meaning that this is Kyouko's challenge and that she has to be the one to meet it head on. Yes, as her friends we are there to guide her and show her the right path, but never help her directly. She has to find her own strength in her times of struggle, that's the only way she'll become a strong priest, maybe even stronger than Shou here..."

"Hey!" protested the Tiger Youkai.

"But you get the point," finished Mamizou, leaning backwards as she drunk from her bottle of sake. After drinking her fill, she wiped the sake from her lips and grinned, "Kyouko's a strong girl, and have some faith in her. All we can do now is wish her luck for the things to come."

* * *

Kyouko tumbled along the temple grounds, stopping in a crouch as she raised her broom in defense against a villager's wooden club. Making use of her youkai strength, she had little trouble pushing her opponent away from her and sending him flying into the crowd. Adrenaline was pumping into her veins, which caused her to act fast and smooth by unleashing a wave of Danmaku at the approaching mob. The crowd came to a halt, most of the villagers fading away into a thick curtain of smoke as they got hit.

One of her ears tensed, and Kyouko swept her bamboo broom low, sending a villager off his feet. She then proceeded to fire a Danmaku shot at the villager's torso before twirling her broom in front of her, ducking below a horizontal arc of a wooden club and delivering the hard end of her broom on her opponent's jugular. The old man she recognized as one of the village elders disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Kyouko felt heartbroken as she just did that.

Both of her ears stood up and immediately reacted by sending a wild kick behind her, causing her would be attacker to double over. Without waiting for the faux villager to recover, she slammed her broom hard on his back, causing him to create a faint '_Poof'_ before dissipating. But it seemed it wasn't over then because the moment the fake villager hit the ground, Kyouko pulled the wooden end of her broom which revealed a thin naked blade.

Pointing it outwards, she didn't have to lash out as a villager accidentally ran the blade through his heart, causing him to disappear.

Grunting in annoyance, the Yamabiko did a quick spin with both of her weapons outstretched, slashing and slamming her enemies with either her sword or broom. She felt a little dizzy as she came to a halt yet Kyouko inhaled enough air within her lungs before releasing it with one mighty shout.

"**GO AWAY!"** she screamed, sending a ground rattling force which erased all of the faux villagers from the temple grounds.

Kyouko breathed hard as that attack left her winded. A chill went down her spine as she noticed a shadow engulf her, causing her to dodge wildly as an anchor swept past the place where she had been. She stared wide eyed and shocked at Minamitsu Murasa, swinging a giant rusted anchor with eyes filled with rage.

_She's not real, she's not real, she's not real, _Kyouko told herself as she dodged left and right while Murasa effortlessly swung the giant anchor. The Yamabiko rolled out of the way as the Ship Phantom fired the anchor from her grasp like a cannonball, dragging it back with a chain before swinging it around. Murasa brought down her flying anchor as Kyouko let out a frightened whimper while she dodged.

The Yamabiko fired off a couple of bursts of Danmaku which hit the Ship Phantom on the stomach, not even trying to dodge and taking it like a captain. That's when Kyouko noticed the sudden increase in transparency on the Phantom's form. Heck, Kyouko wasn't even sure if she was still a phantom since the humans were on Murasa's side. This didn't ignore the fact that Shou's hair was brown and that Unzan was nowhere to be seen. So did that mean that they were humans?

"Dreams can screw with your mind sometimes," said Koishi from the top of the entrance's walls, swaying her legs happily while Kyouko did all the fighting, "It's weird, but it can get away with that since it's a dream. All you have to do is live it and play along..."

Kyouko ducked under an anchor as Murasa lashed horizontally. Kicking off the ground, Kyouko began to somersault in the air before landing in front of Murasa, slashing downwards as she came down. A tear fell from Kyouko's eyes as she cut Murasa's chains and kicked her into the temple, creating a large hole in the wall. She felt sick almost hurting her friend. She didn't care if this was a dream, she didn't care if Murasa was mean to her at times, but she can never bring herself to hurt someone she cared about.

A tap sounded behind her and a fist went out to meet Kyouko's cheek. The Yamabiko managed to plant her right feet firmly on the ground to prevent herself from flying away. With the forced leaving her shaken, the Yamabiko didn't have time to respond as another fist hit her in the gut. The last blow actually moved her a few feet before collapsing on one knee. Kyouko was then sent into a fit of coughing as she planted her sword beside her. Looking up, she saw Ichirin with her fists raised as her right held a golden ring.

"Oooo~ Kung Fu nun! Now that's cool!" cheered Koishi in her seat.

The faux Ichirin slowly walked towards the down Yamabiko before breaking into a full run. The teal haired girl managed to skip away the last minute as the nun brought her fist down on the floor, shattering it as if she had Unzan's strength imbued within her. Within a split second midst the flying rubble, Kyouko caught the sight of pink lights dancing behind the ex-Nyuudo user's eyes.

Kyouko landed on her feet and gripped the bamboo handle of her sword as Ichirin's slow, yet forceful stomping approached her. Lifting her head up, Kyouko slapped Ichirin's right jab before blocking an incoming knee. The impact from the knee lifted the surprised Yamabiko by a couple of inches, before Kyouko regained some sense to whack Ichirin upside the head with her broom. The nun was sent stumbling as she gathered her bearings, yet with a single elbow blow to the collar, she was sent crashing against a tree. Another knockout blow, not a killing move.

Finally, her knees gave away and Kyouko collapsed on the ground.

Her broom and sword clattered against the stone floor as Kyouko began to sob uncontrollably. That was it, she had enough. She couldn't go on like his forever for in fear of losing her sanity. She was scared out of her mind, yet it took all of her willpower to defeat her friends not too long ago. Only now did it crumble into nothing. This was torture... This was torture and she had enough of it. She just wanted to go home, to her real home. Not this nightmarish place or whatever it was called, she didn't care. She just sat there, sobbing as another person walked up to her with staff raised.

Kyouko looked up with her tear stricken eyes as Shou got ready to bring down her staff.

_I guess... This is my punishment for hurting the Immortal and hurting the Celestial... I was bad and resorted to violence, now I'm going to be punished, _she thought as more tears fell down her chin, _Please... Make it stop! Someone make it stop!_

And as if on cue, a black something obscured her view as she heard the sound of slashing whistle in the air. The thing which blocked her vision turned out to be Koishi's hat, while the satori herself was standing in front of the Yamabiko with her hand thrust out forward. The faux Shou uttered a strangled grunt before exploding into a puff of smoke, immediately being blown away by a convenient breeze.

Koishi casually tossed Kyouko's sword beside its stunned owner and picked up her hat.

"I don't usually care about people like this, but..." Koishi readjusted her hat before turning to Kyouko with an indifferent expression, matching her strange dead eyes, "I think I'll make this one an exception since the monk lady asked me too."

Spinning around once more, she raised a threatening finger at the faux Byakuren's form. "Though I'll have to point out that, that's not the same monk lady who asked me. You're a fake like the rest, but you're an original at the same time. So shed your form and face us with who you really are, you big bully!"

At first, the fake Byakuren's face was just as expressionless as Koishi's yet after a few seconds of the satori's command, a twisted grin suddenly crept along the monk's kindly features. That grin just felt wrong and Kyouko knew that because it gave her a sense of repulsion that made her skin crawl.

And then Byakuren sprouted wings.

Kyouko watched as Byakuren slowly morphed into something smaller and more younger in physique while her hair transformed from dark brown to brilliant gold. Her monk robes seemed to shift too, turning into a pink and white dress which flowed around her as a ribbon magically formed behind her head. When the transformation was complete, it was no longer Byakuren that stood, but in her place was a young girl with angel's wings. She opened her golden eyes and raised her hand in greeting.

"Aww, and I was having fun too!" she whined childishly, though Kyouko could sense something malevolent behind those golden eyes, "Well, I guess it was my fault for playing around for too long."

Koishi slowly backed up till she was right beside the shivering Kyouko, grabbing the underside of the trembling Yamabiko's arm and lifting her up. Kyouko felt her knees shaking as she clung to Koishi's arm like it was her final lifeline... Or maybe it was...

The sky, the trees, the temple, the walls, and almost everything looked like they were made from wet paint, slowly losing their hold on... something... as they slid to the ground, forming a pool mixed with a sorts of colors. It was disgusting to look, though Kyouko didn't know why, she just felt that way. The stone floor was replaced by blue tiles while the temple and its walls was replaced by a never ending landscape of more blue tiles. The sky was no longer gray, but deep scarlet, free of any sign of clouds. Being in this place, Kyouko felt small, alone, and vulnerable.

No matter how strong everyone thought her to be, she didn't have a chance in surviving in place like this.

"Welcome, guests! To my humble abode," greeted the angel winged girl with a mocking curtsy, "Welcome to the Dream world, home to desires and paradise to nightmares. My name is Gengetsu, sister to the original creator this lovely Wonderland!"

Gengetsu's friendly smile broke into a sinister grin, "I hope you'll enjoy your stay~!"

* * *

_Nicolas Notes: And so ends the first part of this chapter. Actually if I went on with this, it would've travelled to 20k. I'm not going to let you guys bore yourself with a fight that drags on and on..._

_There were lots of references here, can you find them all? _

_Well, wasn't this a long while since the last chapter? I hope I manage to finish the other part by next week... That is if I can... Hehe_

_I don't really have much to say... Laevateinn's gonna take a break, but not for long since I always break my promises... Ehehehe. Now I'm surprised this chapter didn't have a BGM. Looks like I'm going to put them on the next chapter._

_Enjoy! Read, review and share your thoughts! _

_See ya~ Yahoo!_


	4. Chapter 4: Heart Throbbing Duet: Encore

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Touhou or any other Touhou related materials. And be warned of repetitive names going on for paragraph after paragraph after... you know... _**

* * *

Kyouko was so scared beyond belief that she was almost surprised she wasn't wetting herself yet.

Things have gone awfully quiet for the last thirty seconds, with the three beings present in this godforsaken world waiting for each other to make a move. Kyouko hid behind a strange satori with a knitted third eye, named Koishi Komeiji while hovering twenty feet away from them was a girl called Gengetsu, who claimed herself to be a relative of the person responsible for this land's existence. She was in the Dream world where her greatest joys and worst nightmares could come true in a second before disappearing once more as fast as it came.

The Yamabiko counted her chances of survival and fond them not enough to make out of this place in one piece, much less alive. But, she didn't lose hope. It wouldn't do her any good if she broke down again. Besides, as uncaring and whimsical Koishi was, she promised Kyouko that she would protect the Yamabiko until they got out of the place. Not that Kyouko didn't trust her or had faith on the satori's power, but she didn't know if Koishi's power was enough to protect them both from whatever Gengetsu... Was...

The winged girl had this aura around her, an unstable one. It was like she was both sides of the same coin, both good and evil, but very, very powerful. The only beings that made this Kyouko forced down her lunch in order to stop herself from throwing up was the Flower Youkai, Lady Byakuren going commando, and that one time she caught a glimpse of the Yama. Gengetsu however was, for some horrible reason, above them. 'A being higher and more powerful than the Yama? That's impossible!' one might say, but hey, Dream world and Gengetsu along with her sister own the place. The winged girl was at her pinnacle of power.

Kyouko was about to break the silence and request Gengetsu to take her home, but Koishi beat her to the punch.

"Uhuh," said the satori, crossing her arms on her chest, "Nice place you got here, Miss Gengetsu, but it seems like me and my friend has enjoyed enough for our fill. So if you don't mind, we'll appreciate it if you point us to the nearest exit to the world of the awakened."

With one might beat of her wings, Gengetsu shot up the air, slowly coming to a stop. Her ominous grin now reverted back to the friendly and cheerful smile she displayed awhile ago, "Well, actually I do mind. I mean, you two are so fun playmates and this place never really does get many visitors. The only fun person that passes by is the Flower Youkai, though not even she stays for long."

"S-s-so w-w-we d-don't get to leave?" whimpered Kyouko as she hid behind Koishi's shoulder.

"Of course you don't! It's not every day I get to chat with the Queen of the Subconscious herself and the Silent Echo at the same time~!" squealed Gengetsu as she spun in tucked her wings in front of her and spun in mid-air, "Oh what fun we three are going to have! Unfortunately, younger sister doesn't seem to be in the playing mood, so I... Took care of her..."

The winged girl suddenly broke into a fit of giggling.

"Silent Echo?" mused Koishi before glancing behind her shoulder to look at Kyouko, "Seems like you already built a name for yourself. Now isn't that interesting?"

"I don't know and I don't care," replied Kyouko in the same fearful tone, "Just please, get us out of here!"

"Right, but not before I get some answers," Koishi muttered back before turning to the giggling Gengetsu, "Hey!"

The winged girl turned to face them.

"Where'd you hear the title 'Silent Echo' from? Come on playmate~ Tell us where you heard it~!" said Koishi in the same childish tone used by Gengetsu, though nowhere near the level of mocking the angel girl.

Gengetsu playfully stuck out her tongue and said, "You have to say the magic word~!"

"Please~?" asked Koishi through deceivingly innocent eyes.

"Okay~! Replied the winged girl playfully. Kyouko was on her toes as she strained her four ears to hear Gengetsu's reply, "I got it from a strange woman in a top hat! Apparently she was one of those people that can willingly cross dreams unlike Miss Kasodani here. She's very much like you, Miss Koishi! Only that she's nowhere near your level of power."

"Is that all~?" pushed Koishi, giving the winged girl a cute wink, "Then why did you come and drag Kyouko-tan here?"

"Because the funny lady told me that she's strong and interesting!" answered Gengetsu with a gleam behind her eyes which Kyouko didn't like, "Now that I've seen it for myself, she was right! Now I wanna fight her!"

Kyouko froze because of two things. It was because one; this godlike being wanted to fight her despite their huge difference in terms of power. And two; because a person telling Gengetsu to target her appeared just like Tenshi did.

Could all of her battles have some sort of connection? Kyouko looked up to the grinning blonde and wondered if she'll live long enough to find out.

"So~" spoke Koishi, "When will we be able to go home~?"

"That is if you both beat me till I can't stand up anymore!" giggled Gengetsu.

"Wonderful~! Say, Genge-chan," muttered the satori with her eyes obscured y the brim of her hat. When she spoke once more, Koishi's tone had a mixed tone of excitement and deadly seriousness in it, "Can I borrow a tool to fish?"

_The Strongest Music Cues presents: Cute Devil~ Innocence (Re-mastered Version 2)_

Gengetsu only laughed. It wasn't anything like Kyouko had heard of it was evil, malevolent and distorted, and yet... It gave her a strange feeling of peace and beauty. It was only then Kyouko realized it, it was the sound of the end. Gengetsu shot up into the red sky until she was no more than a speck of yellow.

Koishi pushed Kyouko away from her with strength that the Yamabiko never realized was there. By the time Kyouko landed in a heap and looked up, Koishi was bombarded by yellow bombs, causing the whole area in which she stood to be covered in smoke. A white blur broke through the veil and started peppering the area with white Danmaku as it circled around it. The blur came to a halt, revealing that it was Gengetsu, grinning from ear to ear as she spread her arms on either side of her and released a volley of Danmaku.

The Danmaku seemed to float in the air for a few seconds before launching themselves at the dust cloud, a stream of blue countless Danmaku from Gengetsu following them in a straight line. That was when another blur shot up from the smoke, signalling the sky to explode with green bullets shooting outwards similar to rings.

Kyouko watched as the winged girl dodged the bullets with no problem, sending out a burst of white bullets after the blur who turned out to be Koishi. The satori had this wide smile on her face as she flew higher, summoning volleys of green bullets to hit Gengetsu. Soon, the air was thick with green bullets, leaving Gengetsu with little space to dodge. From Kyouko's point of view, the bullets seemed to be forming a giant cage, slowly suffocating the winged girl of places to dodge, and leaving her trapped.

The Yamabiko's eyes widened as she watched the blonde disappear into nothing. An explosion of orange bullets from above indicated Gengetsu's reappearance before vanishing once more. Koishi ceased her summoning and gave chase, firing one heart shaped bullet after another. Gengetsu came to a halt, firing a burst of large fat bullets on every angle.

"In the light of this dark gloomy world, two broken souls do battle."

The Yamabiko below tore her gaze away from the battle and turned to the person who spoke. It was another girl, bearing heavy resemblance to the winged girl above. Her golden eyes matched her yellow hair, in complete contrast with her blue dress. A wide slit on the back of her dress revealed her flawless white skin where two scars were visible. She sat within a cage made out of melted wax, something Kyouko hasn't noticed a minute before.

Kyouko didn't even know how this girl got in there or how that cage was formed without her noticing, but she could tell that this new girl bore no ill will towards her. Instead, the girl gave Kyouko a smile as her lips parted, "My name is Mugetsu..."

She raised one fragile finger towards the fight above, namely at Gengetsu. "Stop her... Before she does something stupid..."

Kyouko looked on her feet and bit back a scream as red liquid began to rise above her ankles. She looked around and saw that the entire landscape was being filled with red which could only be described as blood. She kicked off the ground and hovered, turning her gaze to the girl, she found out that Mugetsu's cage was unaffected by the sudden rise. Kyouko couldn't help but feel a chill down on her ears; maybe this was what Gengetsu mean when she said she took care of her sister?

The Yamabiko turned her gaze back at the sky and watched the battle unfold.

She winced and covered her head as a grand laser tore through the air, rivalling that of Tenshi's and the black-white Witch. Koishi managed to dodge this by swooping low and firing off heart shaped bullets from beneath Gengetsu. The winged girl used this chance to hail her opponent with blue Danmaku from above. From the dust and smoke shot out the satori, pulling out a spellcard from her pocket which began to glow.

"Instinct~ Release of the Id!" she declared as the area around her exploded with pink heart shaped bullets.

Gengetsu made quick work with the first wave and weaved through them. However once the bullets revealed more of their pattern, the more did the winged girl's movements became restricted, giving her no chance to retaliate. Koishi seemed to be enjoying herself as she spread her arms outwards, intensifying the speed of the hearts as they criss-crossed each other. Gengetsu seemed to be having fun as well as two balls of red light began to glow in her palms.

The winged girl barrel rolled in the air and saw a chance to fire her bullet. Her blue bullet tore through the volley Koishi sent knocking the satori backwards.

"Suppression~ Super Ego!" yelled Koishi declaring a new spell. All of a sudden, the hearts surrounding Gengetsu all turned bubblegum blue and began moving towards Koishi. The Dream Demon spun like a ballerina as a heart bullet came from behind. All of the bullets seemed to be drawn towards Koishi before they were expelled once more. Gengetsu managed to guess the pattern and weaved through the spell with ease.

It was similar with the Instinct Spell card, only reversed.

She somersaulted in mid-air as a magic circle drew itself beneath her feet. A larger circle was formed in front of her as six smaller ones were placed a few feet in front of it, forming a hexagon. The circles began to glow an ominous blue light, slowly turning crimson as the second ticked by. Four heart bullets connected with Gengetsu's back, yet she managed to shrug them off like they were nothing. She then proceeded to place her hands in front of her as a giant blue beam rushed forth, mauling down waves and waves of bullets that got in its way.

The beam was too bright, so Kyouko had to shield her eyes to prevent them from going blind. Once her vision returned, she saw Koishi flying out of harm's way while keeping one hand on her hat.

This time it was the winged girl's turn to attack, allowing the world her to explode in blue knives and yellow stars. The stars were more organized in their pattern as they form a stream that gave way to little gaps while the knives spread out forming a ring shape in the air. Koishi managed to weave through the attack and was about to send a fist to Gengetsu's face when the Dream Demon disappeared all of a sudden. The satori whirled around to see Gengetsu firing a storm of white and yellow Danmaku flying at high speed.

Koishi disappeared amidst the smoke and explosions while the winged girl cackled in delight.

"Where are you~? Come out, come out wherever you are~!" sung Gengetsu as she looked from left to right. With one deliberate movement, she turned around, "Found ya!"

She was then met with a wave of white Danmaku to the face. Her form eventually disappearing into the sea of searing white energy.

"Symbol~ Danmaku Paranoia" declared Koishi, diving straight down through her Danmaku. She eventually found Gengetsu and didn't hesitate in giving the winged girl a kick to the gut, sending her crashing straight into the shallow sea of red. The winged girl rose out of the blood with nothing more than tainted wings and a few bruises. It was as if the blood was sliding off her like water. Raising her hand to the heavens, Gengetsu activated her spellcard.

"Withered Heart~ Dead March!" she called just as the stagnant sea behind her suddenly rippled with life. That was when the surface broke and a large silhouette rose up in the air and extended an arm to snatch Koishi out of the air. The satori thought quick and dashed to her side, unleashing a wave of white Danmaku which hailed the winged girl below. Koishi's smile seemed to widen as she intensified the raw power she applied to her spellcard. The speed of the white bullets suddenly increased until they were all nothing but a blur.

The explosions they caused made the terrain below nothing short of a warzone. However the silhouette that came out earlier didn't seemed fazed by the attack and stretched another arm out to catch Koishi. This time it succeeded in capturing her, only to have its hand explode as a ring of force came from within it. It fell in a great splash that caused the earth to rumble. Koishi brought her hands in front of her and purple daggers began to circle Gengetsu. Soon, the area in front of the satori burst to life as another wave of white bullets came forth.

Gengetsu didn't seem worried about neither the amount of bullets headed her way nor the knives which were circling her as the sea of blood suddenly exploded. A colossal skeletal hand shot up into the air followed by three others. This time the silhouette from earlier became more distinct that it could be easily identified. It was the skeletal colossus of a humanoid, ancient and rotting, towering high up in the scarlet sky.

It glared at Koishi with the dark abyss it had for eyes and uttered a silent roar.

It raised its thick bony hand into the air, taking a swipe out of Koishi only to miss; the satori was simply too fast to catch. Sweeping the air with its good hand, the skeletal giant opened its maw and released an acrid breath that reached all the way to where Kyouko was. She was too busy blocking the stench out to think how that was even possible. Koishi blocked out the attack by creating a swirl of daggers around her which blew away most of the breath away with their speed.

The winged girl who she was battling earlier now sat on the shoulder of the undead giant, a sadistic smirk upon her lips.

"She's a Dream Demon just like me," muttered Mugetsu at Kyuko's side, "We are beings who travel across the Unconscious Regions, overseeing the dreams certain individuals of the Waking World have based on their desires and experiences."

The Yamabiko turned her attention at the girl in the blue dress and asked, "How... How could she be that powerful? To create something that big and... I don't think that's even a spellcard to begin with!"

The blonde sighed through her nose as she replied, "It is because she still has her wings..." She turned her back towards Kyouko to give the Yamabiko a better look at her scars, "Dream Demons aren't that well known in the Waking World, however we are known to humans as angels, now isn't that a bit ironic? A demon being called an angel? Our wings... It's one of our main source of power, or rather, the place where our powers are stored. We get our powers from the dreams of the entities of the Waking World, the more people dream, the more powerful we get. That's when I realized with the power we both had, me and my elder sister, we can create a world of our own where we'll be able to do anything we wanted."

A pause... A couple of heart beats and explosions from the battle passed before Mugetsu continued, "Unfortunately... It didn't come without a price... I had to give up my wings to create this land, a land where we sisters could make the dreams of people a whole lot better. You know, around the time I made this place, children never slept through the night without having a single nightmare. The Humans of the Outside were in the state of war, so it was understandable..."

"Gengetsu didn't take the loss of my wings lightly as I had, so she ran off into the darkest corners of this world while I was left to tend to it on my own. And when she came back... She was different," another pause and Mugetsu swept a strand of hair from her eyes, "Dear elder sister, she wasn't the same ever since. Perhaps if you were to speak with the satori's sister, you will hear the same sob story as you have now... Gengetsu and Koishi Komeiji... Aren't that different you know?"

"Still..." Kyouko was left to ponder the information which she had just received when an explosion caught her attention. She managed to catch the sight of the satori before Koishi was engulfed by a crimson beam of raw power, "KOISHI!"

"Gengetsu is broken... She spent a third of her life swimming across nightmare after nightmare," muttered Mugetsu, hugging her knees as she sat, "Should you ever fight her, Kyouko Kasodani, expect your fears to beat you mercilessly."

"I already faced my fears!" Kyouko shot back, twirling her broom at her side, "Even if she's a bit weird and I only knew her for a short while, Koishi is still a friend and I'm not going to let her fight alone!"

With that, Kyouko kicked into the ground and dashed through the air. Unbeknownst to her, Mugetsu's blank expression slowly transformed into a smile, "This girl is a bundle of joy... Please survive..."

* * *

_Everything dies into silence. The Strongest Music is paused!_

The grand beam which erupted from the skeletal giant's mouth slowly grew smaller until it winked out of existence and the colossus closed its mouth. It stood with its broken hand slowly piecing itself together, clearing cracks and connecting scattered fragments. Raising its left hand, it made an attempt to grab at the motionless satori that hovered in mid-air only to miss once again with Kyouko's interference. She managed to tackle Koishi out of the way before the giant crushed her.

"Koishi! Are you okay? Say something!" cried the Yamabiko, vigorously shaking the satori with all strength she could muster.

"Kill..." whispered Koishi in a dead tone, contrast with the happy go lucky kind of crazy attitude she was displaying awhile ago, "I have to kill her..."

Kyouko was taken aback by this along with a cold sensation sliding down her spine. She immediately released the satori's shoulders and asked, "What? H-hey you're scaring me, why do you have to kill her? We have to go by the spellcard rules, you can't just kill anyone!"

"We're not in Gensokyo anymore... Rules don't apply here..." replied Koishi as she stared at her feet with the same dead tone. When she looked up, Kyouko suddenly felt flying off as far away as she can from her new 'friend'. Looking into the emptiness within Koishi's eyes scared her, it scared her even more than when the whole Myouren Temple went against her. It didn't help when she noticed Koishi's third eye crying red liquid.

"She broke my hat..." she pointed held up the tattered remains of her black hat, still smoking from being hit by the laser beam, "She has to die..."

"No! Wait, Koishi, you're not thinking straight. Please think about this for a second or else we'll be doing something we'll regret," said Kyouko in a panicked tone, she did not like the murderous intent hidden underneath the satori's blank words.

"Why shouldn't she? I told you, didn't I?" asked Koishi, her voice barely audible than a whisper, "Mr. Hat keeps me relaxed..."

_Strongest Music is switching tracks: Touhou 11 ((remix#246))Hartmann's Youkai Girl_

Kyouko looked back at the sound of explosions and saw rows and rows of blue and red Danmaku bullets rising to wrap themselves upon the undead giant's arms and neck. She managed to see Gengetsu take flight and shriek in frustration before Koishi grabbed the Yamabiko by the collar and tossed her away, following up by declaring a spellcard.

"Out of my way," whispered the satori, raising her spellcard, "Subconscious~ Rorschach in Danmaku"

Soon a barrage of colored Danmaku assaulted the undead giant. With every wave that hit, the skeleton flinched as it took the unholy punishment while struggling to keep itself upright. Koishi relentlessly lashed on every part of the giant she could see, making sure to intensify and increase the amount of orbs she was throwing. Kyouko cringed as she watched debris from the giant fly off into random directions. The ferocity Koishi was expelling with every Danmaku summon was unmatched while mercilessly pummelling undead like a toy.

The giant made an attempt to swipe Koishi out of the air, only to have its bony arm blown into oblivion and engulfed by the raging waves of bullets. Kyouko could see the spell card's pattern from her safe zone, it was similar to the fluid motion of two arms stretching and compressing alternately, unleashing glowing orbs with tiny little gaps to pass through. Gengetsu's face formed a snarl of disgust before weaving through the pattern. She dodged, bobbed, and barrel rolled throughout the onslaught, only to be caught by surprise as the bullets blinked all at once and disappeared.

She managed to see the cause before she was launched back into the unforgiving earth, sending and explosion of red from the sea of blood.

The Dream Demon slowly got up to her feet while shaking her head, pausing for a moment to study her opponent. She wasn't surprised to see Koishi Komeiji standing a few paces away from her, however what caught her interest were the satori's arms. Koishi's hands were bigger, bulkier, and thicker while being enveloped in a large layer of green rock-like shells, forming hammer like fists. She broke into a sprint, raising one giant fist before she brought it down to where Gengetsu stood.

The winged girl managed to side step the attack, unfurling her pure white wings as she responded with a hook of her own. The air seemed to vibrate as Gengetsu's punch collided with Koishi's strange fist. The satori's left hand began to grow in size till her frail arm could no longer support it, causing the enlarged fist to fall in to the shallow sea of red and disorient the Dream Demon. Before Koishi could even enter a combo, Gengetsu beat her to it by summoning a white lightning bolt from the crimson heavens, electrocuting the slow satori. She drew her arm back and delivered a devastating punch into the hatless girl's face.

From afar, Kyouko winced at the hit. However her jaw almost dropped when she saw that Koishi didn't even stagger. Instead, her right hand shot up from nowhere and grabbed the winged girl's offending hand, lifting her up no problem before slamming her into the red water. Gengetsu recovered quickly once she hit, twisting her body to face her assailant. Power began to gather within her finger tips when all of a sudden, a huge magic circle burst into existence. With her bulky arms, Koishi was too slow to dodge and was enveloped in a blue grand laser tearing across the landscape.

When the beam died on Koishi's place sat twin narrow blue shells filled with jagged spikes. The two shells spread apart and within was Koishi, grinning like a madwoman while she gazed at Gengetsu who was doing the same.

"Neat trick... But..." the Dream Demon spread her wings and shot into the air, hovering while looking down at her grounded opponent, "**WHAT USE WILL IT BE AGAINST THOUSANDS?!"**

That was when the winged girl spread her arms apart and began to multiply. One became two, two became four, four became sixteen, while sixteen spawned into hundreds and soon into thousands. Not even a minute has gone by when the sky was suddenly filled with dense white clouds all whom were Gengetsu.

"**In this world, I am a Goddess! You are no match for me, Queen of the Subconscious!"** jeered the Dream Demon army in one voice, forcing the spectating Yamabiko to cover all of her ears, "**Your deepest nightmares, in this realm they will become reality! Now die!"**

To this, Koishi made no response and watched as the army charged at her. A couple of heartbeats passed by and the satori began to twitch. That twitch became a shiver and soon turned into a convulsion. She hugged her stomach while uttered a silent scream, Koishi's gaping mouth transforming into a sick smile as the mob of Gengetsu's closed in. And then she exploded.

Dark blue tendrils erupted from every part of her body, shooting out and piercing anything that got in their way. However these tendrils seemed to have a mind of their own as they seemed to curve and swoop to where the Dream Demons were most.

Kyouko was horrified by this as she continued to watch. She just witnessed her friend annihilate an entire army all by herself, and in a gruesome manner too. Still, despite the tendrils' seemingly brutal kills, no blood or limbs were torn apart. Instead, the Gengetsu's who were caught in the attack all shimmered and disappeared into nothingness. Soon all that was left was Koishi with tendrils sticking out of her body, it was only then that they all travelled back into their host's body and receded as if they were never there.

The satori straightened her back and turned her head from left to right.

Gengetsu burst from the red waters with her wings spread wide and a hand outstretched. Unfortunately she was cut in half before she could even move further by a long flexible blue tendril decorated with sharp blades. Koishi drew her whip like arm back and lashed it once before launching it backwards. Another Gengetsu exploded from the sea only to be hit square in the chest. More Dream Demons emerged and Koishi only repeated her actions, killing them all instantly.

However one managed to get through and dodge the whip by a hair's breadth, successfully grabbing the satori's unguarded back. The captive struggled against the winged girl's monstrous strength only to find that it was futile. She managed to look up and see another Gengetsu flying towards her before sending a colossal haymaker to her face. The satori spat blood out of her mouth and glared at the Dream Demon with a mad glint within her eyes.

Gengetsu struck once more, the sound of fist colliding with flesh filling the air.

"**This is fun isn't it?! I'll teach you not to mess with me in **_**my**_** territory! Have some this, and that, and some of these! RAGGGHHHH!"** Gengetsu delivered a word on each blow, intensifying it and making sure to add a bit more force. She managed to land thirteen blows before finally taking a step back to examine her handy work. "**Well, don't you look cute~? Ehehe."**

The hatless girl's face was reduced into a bloody and bruised mess. Her cheeks were swollen while her right brow sported a cut or two. Gashes and black marks riddled her eyes and face. She was so damaged that her lips were dribbling crimson liquid while her nose did the same. But despite all of this, despite of the unholy amount of punishment she'd received, Koishi was still smiling. And that was more than enough to act as a warning.

She suddenly achieved great strength and managed to dislodge herself from the Gengetsu clone that held her, grabbing the clone's wrist and twisting it before kicking the clone into the other Gengetsu. Koishi lashed out with her elongated arm, though the second winged girl managed to tilt her head to the side, a blade cutting her cheek.

"Oh~ Found you~" sang Koishi as her other arm began to transform.

Her face turning into a look mixed between disgust and frustration, the Dream Demon gathered tainted white electricity between her palms and unleashed it towards the mad girl. The satori used her morphing hand to block the attack which was followed by a dull boom and smoke spreading. Once the black clouds disappeared, a blade the size of a door gleamed wickedly while sticking out of Koishi's arm. From her shoulder everything looked normal until one's eyes started travelling downward where hard blue rock like armour began to appear until they met with the blade's base.

On her other hand (no pun intended), it now bore resemblance to a large hand with five sharp claws with the length of a short sword.

Koishi broke into a sprint, all injuries healing at an alarming rate as she kicked off the ground and slashed downwards. Gengetsu shielded herself with her wings, which for some reason, refused to be torn apart by either blade or claw. The satori suddenly succumbed to her frenzied state, slashing and hacking at the Dream Demon's invulnerable wings with great passion and glee. The winged girl unfurled her wings and sidestepped Koishi's downward slash, using the opening to send a jab to the monstrous satori's face.

Koishi retaliated by swinging the flat of her blade arm sideways, knocking air out of Gengetsu's lungs. Planting one foot behind her, the winged girl leapt into the air and landed a lucky kick to the satori's abdomen, pushing her backwards.

* * *

_I think it's time to intervene,_ spoke a disembodied voice and suddenly, Kyouko was snapped out of her trance. She had been watching the battle escalate while in shock. Now that she thought back, she could have gotten herself killed when the Elder Dream Demon summoned a massive army of herself.

She then looked at her right fist holding her broom. She was trembling badly now, it didn't take herself long to realize how scared she was. Kyouko looked down at the two fighters locked in a battle of death. Koishi was obviously strong the first time the Yamabiko met her, but now seeing her in this grizzly and out of control state, it was hard to control the fear she was emitting. And then there was Gengetsu. That girl was literally one of the Goddesses of this world. She could flick Kyouko like a fly if she wanted to.

The Yamabiko then thought to herself. She couldn't possibly engage them both in combat all by herself. That would be no short of suicide and in Koishi's state; Kyouko didn't think she could distinguish between an ally and foe anymore. She must really have loved her hat.

_I don't have the power to take them both on... _Kyouko's gaze turned to the other person below, _but maybe someone else can..._

* * *

The Dream Demon cackled cruelly as Koishi swung her claws back and forth. Ducking low from a furious swipe, she shot into the air and pelted the satori with lightning bolts. Her opponent morphed her right arm into a shield once more while turning her other arm into a flexible one. Koishi launched her left arm into the air; however her attack was easily evaded.

"Get down here," she growled as she swept her elongated arm through the air.

"You'll never catch me that way, girl!" taunted the Demon as she dodged the satori's attack with ease. She moved to her left as Koishi struck again, "It's no use, you can't even think of flying to catch me!"

"I don't need to fly," replied the monstrous girl. Gengetsu suddenly yelped as the blue whip came back and grabbed her leg. Koishi pulled and slammed her into the blue tiles, "I'll just bring you down to me."

"Smart girl," giggled the Demon as she burst into white light, obliterating the hand holding her. When Koishi cleared her eyes, Gengetsu was already gone. On instinct, she transformed her arm into a gigantic fist once more as she swung behind her, only to have it caught. The winged girl lifted it up with ease, making the satori vulnerable. A red magic circle sprung into existence before Koishi was lost in a beam of crimson.

"Weak," she giggled over the roar of her laser. Her amusement was cut short, literally. A large blade cut her grand beam in half, revealing an emotionless abomination within. Koishi swung once more, causing the Demon to jump back and retaliate with Danmaku. She merely cut through the missiles and continued to sprint.

Gengetsu kicked to her right, gathering energy within her palms and unleashing them into deadly blows as the monstrous girl followed her. The two race across the landscape, the ground exploding into red as the sea of blood was disturbed. It was a battlefield for two titans, each striving for dominance over the other.

The satori's eyes went wide as her opponent came to an abrupt halt and leapt over her, dodging her claw swipe. A light tap behind her was enough to guess the winged girl's intent, so she swung her claw around only to have it meet with her enemy's wing. The Demon smiled at Koishi before twirling around while extending her wings to their fullest extent, pushing the satori backwards.

_In the light of this gloomy world, two broken souls do battle_

"Stop!"

Kyouko arrived as the two were about to clash. Much to her surprise, the red liquid parted giving way to dry blue tiles, however she had pressing matters to attend. The two powerful beings looked at her at the sound of her voice. The winged girl was giving her a look of amusement mixed with curiosity while the monstrous girl only stared at her with a blank expression. The Yamabiko's legs suddenly felt shaky, threatening to collapse any moment under the gaze of these creatures yet she forced herself to stand strong.

"Please, there's no need to fight," she pleaded, holding one hand at the base of her neck while the other firmly gripped her broom. She turned to Gengetsu and said, "Just let us go and we won't bother you anymore. My friend... Is just upset because she lost something valuable to her. But it doesn't mean it can't be forgiven. Miss Koishi."

She turned towards the satori in question, "We can still go home without having to fight. All we have to do is forget about this. Please listen to me, there's no need to hurt each other any longer."

There was silence, only to be broken by Gengetsu's giggling.

"He he he, aren't you cute?" she laughed, "Sorry, but while you're in my world, you're my property. **YOU DON'T HAVE A SAY IN THIS!"**

She flew towards the teal haired girl with frightening speed, her hand ready to grab Kyouko's arm. However Koishi intercepted her with a blade arm.

"Kyouko, I promised the monk lady I'd protect you," the satori pushed the Demon away with incredible strength, "But if you dare get in my way, I'll have to make you obey."

"No!" shouted the Yamabiko, however Koishi already leapt towards her opponent.

Gengetsu evaded Koishi's claw strike, causing the satori to follow with a slash upwards. That only made the winged girl step back, however she continued by spinning around with her blade and launching a blue tendril towards the escaping Demon. Said Demon dodged with ease and grabbed the tendril before yanking it hard. Koishi was caught off guard with the winged girl's strength and was pulled upwards before being slammed into the ground. Gengetsu reinforced her grip as she swept the ground using Koishi's body.

"Get away from her!"

The Demon dodged as Kyouko brought down her broom, ducking low as the Yamabiko swung her weapon again. She aimed her free hand at her opponent's belly before letting loose a white lightning bolt. Needless to say, Kyouko was thrown backwards.

As Gengetsu turned to face her other opponent, she was met with a shelled fist twice as large as her own head. It took a bit of strength to keep herself from flying away, however it seemed like Koishi wasn't going to let her recover farther than that. The satori transformed her arm into a normal one so that she could grab Gengetsu's own before pounding the Dream Demon in the gut with her enlarged one. Once the winged girl was stunned, Koishi grabbed her neck and slammed her into the tiled floor, swinging her normal fist into the Demon's cheek.

"Get your filthy hands off me," growled Gengetsu as she spat into the satori's eyes, using the moment's distraction to create a giant hand from the red liquid. The hand swatted the satori off her like a fly. Koishi used the momentum to rise up again, only to have her face kiss the Demon's foot, sending her tumbling away once more. "You like that, you insufferable fool?!"

The winged girl cut short her jubilation to catch the brush end of a broom, "You agai—"

With one fluid motion, Kyouko unsheathed her sword from her broom and spun, leaving a shallow cut upon the Demon's side. Adjusting her grip on the slender blade, she thrust forward. Slashing diagonally as Gengetsu danced along her strikes. However the Demon soon found an opening and gathered energy into a palm. She got ready to unleash it, but failed as Kyouko let loose a devastating shout. Once she landed on her back, she opened her eyes to see the Yamabiko crashing down blade first.

Quickly rolling away, she stood up and timed the moment just right before unfurling her wings, causing the teal haired girl to be blown away.

"Idiot. If the Queen of Subconscious was no match for me, what makes you think that the Silent Echo has the power to defeat me?" she taunted with a smile, "Stupid ones like you fight for the silliest reasons."

"No... I'm not going to fight you," panted Kyouko as she rose to her feet, "She will."

The Dream Demon seemed puzzled at the moment before she realized the person behind Kyouko. Gengetsu snarled at the sight of her scowling sister from behind her prison. Mugetsu grabbed the iron bars of her cage and angrily shook them while shouting, "You need to stop this, Genge-chan! There's no point in all of this! That person with the Top hat tricked you! Please, stop this and let me out!"

"So you'll put me in time out because I was a bad girl?!" screeched the elder demon, "Well boo hoo, I like being bad, you big bully!"

"You idiot!" retorted Mugetsu, "Let me out!"

"No!" Gengetsu yelled back, "Not until you promise to play with me again! This is all your fault, little sister! You always loved cosplaying and working at the same time that you don't have time for me anymore! This is what happens when you don't look after your big sister!"

"You're supposed to be the older one," snapped the younger demon, "Stop acting like a child!"

The elder demon crossed her arms under her chest and looked away. Kyouko didn't like the progress of this discussion; something bad was going to happen if she didn't do anything. But what can she do? Her entire body's frozen in fear; she could barely move a muscle. It took all her willpower just to stand up. She needed a miracle, a miracle that only she could make.

"Lady Gengetsu, if I may," began Kyouko as she inhaled a deep breath. The Dream Demon turned her attention towards the Yamabiko, fortunately she seemed to be listening and showed no intention to attack, this may be Kyouko's only chance. "What is it that you want?"

The winged girl stared at her with narrowed eyes, subjecting her beneath her piercing gaze before saying, "What else? For fun of course! The person with the top hat told me of the things you can do, the entertainment you will be able to bring. And my, my, she never told me you were a weakling. So weak in fact that you barely had enough power to stand up against my illusion, much less defeat me…. You, however, compensated by bringing with you the Queen of the Subconscious. Now wasn't that an interesting turn of events?"

"But don't you see?" replied Kyouko as she forced her voice out, "Your fun is bringing about unhappiness and pain upon those around you. Don't you care at all? "

"Of course not," was Gengetsu's simple reply," Why should I? None of the dreams here are any fun! So I decided to make my own!"

"You foolish big sister!" cried Mugetsu, gripping the bars of her cage in an attempt to escape, "Have you forgotten what set us apart from the other demons?! Have you forgotten what made us both special?! Big sister, we're not barbaric monsters people believe us to be! Please don't go down that path before it's too late! You're not like this."

"Shut your trap, Mugetsu!" snarled the winged girl, her wings spreading apart, "You're not the boss of me, so stop telling me what to do!"

"Lady Gengetsu, please listen," pleaded the Yamabiko in a firm voice, her hands curled into trembling fists, "Do you know the reason why your sister is like this now? Do you know why her wings are gone? It's because she cared for the people who dreamed. The sacrifice she made just so people can dream peacefully, are you just going to stomp and spit on it like that? You say that you only want your sister to look after you, but… with what you're doing; you're making her sacrifice vain and useless."

"What do you know, you sewer headed gremlin?!" hissed Gengetsu, her eyes flashing dangerously yet Kyouko did not back down.

"Lady Byakuren taught me to never let anyone down," sighed the Yamabiko, her ears drooping sadly, "she taught me how important it was to understand and appreciate the efforts of others, even if we don't agree and get angry about it sometimes. We… must learn to accept."

With a frustrated growl, the winged girl was in front of Kyouko in an instant, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her up with her feet dangling. She remained stoic as her face betrayed no emotion of fear. Her eyes merely looked at the Demon with the gaze of pity. She forgot how to become scared. She forgot how to cower under the pressure of the winged girl's power. All she felt was sadness…

"Kyouko!" cried Mugetsu from within her cage, "Gengetsu, let her go now! Please!"

"Stop… Stop looking at me…" muttered the Dream Demon, her voice cracked and trembling, "Stop looking at me with those eyes!"

"Guk!" the Yamabiko began to choke as the grip around her neck increased, yet she forced herself to stay calm and master the pain. She had to get through this girl. This time, she knew that her survival mattered very little, she had to help, "Tell…me… Why..? Are you… satisfied with… the way things are..? No use… No use in killing me. I'm… a nobody… but your sister… Your sister can help, if… you'll just let her… Please listen…. To her... Her voice… let it reach you…"

Kyouko's vision began to blur. Air failed to reach her brain as she began to black out. Dark spots danced around her vision just as she felt the hold around her neck loosen. With a thud, she fell upon the tiled floor, coughing and hacking for air. As she held her throbbing neck, she noticed sparkling droplets fall before her. Slowly lifting her head up, she saw that the Dream Demon was crying.

People had different ways of calling for help, some cried, some hid it underneath a smile, some pretended that it didn't matter…. While others… Others let it all out. The only problem was…they tend to be ignored until to the point their own hearts become numb and dull. This was simply Gengetsu's call, a cry for help. The Yamabiko only realized it just now. In this vast wasteland, a nameless world save for its title, she had no one to turn to but her sister. Yet even to her, her sister seemed distant, almost as if she were stranger.

That's when she decided to bottle it up until it broke her, broke her mind and soul until she became corrupted. Underneath the cruel and sadistic demeanour she had adopted was a girl afraid, waiting to be loved once again.

Gengetsu fell on her knees as her face expressed shock. The stream of tears continued to fall from her eyes, dampening the cold blue floor. And then she began to sob.

Her shoulders trembled as she wept and howled, covering her face with her bloodied hands. Her wings were furled and shivered, causing a bit of her pure white feathers to fall upon the floor. Kyouko wanted to comfort her yet found no strength to do so… Fortunately someone else did. The Yamabiko's ears tensed as she heard footsteps, identifying them as Mugetsu's once she came into view. Now released from her prison, she stood beside her elder sister with a solemn expression.

With a sigh, the younger Dream Demon knelt and hugged her sibling from her back, whispering, "There, there… That's it, let it all out… I'm here… Please… there's no need to be sad, okay? This…. This is all my fault…"

"Mu-mu's a dummy!" sobbed the winged girl, not rejecting the hug, "Dummy, dummy, dummy!"

The younger girl cracked a sad smile, "I know I am…"

It was a beautiful scene. Kyouko fell on her back, exhausted as rain fell from the red heavens. It was clear, cold rain, soaking her yet she didn't care. A ghost of a smile on her face as the Dream siblings reconciled. It was over, and all it took was a few pretty words. Who knew?

"Bad Kyouko…"

And then the atmosphere was shattered with those two words. Everyone turned their attention at a certain malformed satori.

"You're not supposed to be making friends with the enemy…" muttered the abomination that the satori had become.

"K-Koishi-san?" stuttered the Yamabiko as she got up. _No… this isn't good. I completely forgot about her hat!_

"You do know about what I said, right?" Koishi took a step forward; her blade arm gleaming with wicked light while her other arm was normal, "looks like I'll have to make you obey…"

On instinct, Kyouko raised her sword in defence as the satori's blade collided with it. Releasing a shaky breath as she felt the ground beneath her tremble, the Yamabiko used her Youkai strength to push the satori away. Koishi merely looked at her with an emotionless gaze, her nightmarish appendage morphing within blue tendrils as it turned into a claw.

"Winged girl needs to die," said the satori in a raspy voice, almost similar to sandpaper rubbing together. It sent chills down the Yamabiko's spine.

"IT'S JUST A HAT, KOISHI-SAN!" yelled Kyouko, though without her amplifying ability. All of this trouble for a silly hat? Bullshit.

"It was _my_ hat," replied Koishi in a dead sort of tone, "It was my friend…"

"I'm not letting you hurt them…" said the teal haired girl with defiance, levelling her slender blade with her shoulder. Behind her, the Dream Sisters exchanged nervous looks at the scene before them. That was until Koishi raised her claw and jammed it into the ground, causing blue tendrils to shoot up from the tiled floor and wrapping themselves around the sisters. The two kicked and screamed as they hung in mid-air within scaly blue green tendrils.

Kyouko could only gape in shock at how fast things happened.

Turning her attention back at the satori, she just made it in time as Koishi said, "Our turn to dance… You've been a very bad girl, Kyouko. I'll have to discipline you right now…"

* * *

_The Strongest Music cues presents: Touhou Violin Rock II- 6 __ハルトマンの妖怪少女__(Hartmann's Youkai Girl)_

The malformed satori tilted her head from left to right, causing an audible crack to echo. With a sadistic smirk, she planted her foot on the ground and dashed forward with delight, raising her claw above her head. She hacked and slashed with her claws as the other girl parried and blocked with all her skill. Kyouko evaded a claw strike on her left before bringing her slender sword in front of her to block the following strike, the force of it pushing her backwards.

Kicking off the ground, the Yamabiko barely evaded Koishi's dive attack as she crashed on the place where the other girl had been. The teal headed girl pulled a leaf out of a certain half-ghost and used her sword to summon blue and red danmaku in the air, the mass of them homing towards the satori. As the bullets exploded, the malformed girl burst through the smoke, a derange glint within her eyes as she jabbed her clawed hand. The attack was easily dodged, giving her opponent the chance for a counter attack.

Knowing this, she deflected Kyouko's sword with her blade arm, forcing the other girl on the defensive before unleashing a thick clump of blue green tendrils. The Yamabiko was shot out of the air on impact, sending her falling like a shooting star into the ground.

Pain flooded the teal headed girl's mind, yet a black shadow overhead brought her back to reality. She barely had time to stumble out of the way when an explosion rattled the earth. Koishi drew a large rocky fist backwards before launching it. Kyouko did the only thing she could do at those two seconds. She screamed.

The malformed satori was blown off her feet as she received a full blown amplified shout to the face, the sheer power behind it enough to level the ground. It was the voice of fear, and Koishi loved it. Grabbing the ground with a claw to reduce her distance, she dashed with all her might combined with her power of flight. Her right arm transforming back into a blade while her other arm formed into a shield, the floor beneath her quaking at her mighty stomps.

Panicking, the Yamabiko unleashed a full blast of danmaku bullets, yet all of these seemed to be bouncing harmlessly off her foe's shield. Instead of running away from the inevitable, she decided to get close and personal. Walking forward to meet with her opponent, Kyouko moved left to avoid Koishi's thrust, retreating back a few paces to step away from the shield's reach. Clashing her sword with the satori's blade arm, they she blocked a high slash aimed for her head just as a kick connected with her gut.

Doubling over, she dived to the right to avoid being cut in half. She rose once more to the challenge and met with Koishi's blade, luring the abomination in a feint and successfully injuring her opponent with a slash to the waist. Kyouko released a shaky sigh as she looked at her sword.

Blood.

"K-Koishi-san!" she stuttered as she turned to look at the satori. There her foe stood, staring at the deep cut on her side. The red streamed out of her body in a powerful gush before slowly trickling into nothing. The wound was healed, as if it wasn't there in the first place.

Koishi gritted her teeth and howled, she punched the tiled floor with all her strength, summoning jagged spikes in the process. The Yamabiko jumped and took to the air to avoid her inevitable slaughter, firing off danmaku bullets behind her. Her bullets never made it as blue tendrils came to intercept them. The spikes suddenly trembled and burst open like some disgusting flower in full bloom before releasing thousands of heart shaped bullets into the sky.

"Oh no…" muttered the Yamabiko as she gazed at the incoming bullets, "Just what kind of trouble did I get myself into now…"

It sure was a good run. Yet right now, it seemed like her luck just ran out. As the pink glow of the hearts lit her face, she let go of her sword and allowed it to fall blade first into oblivion. She just floated there, staring at the beautiful patter the hearts made as they flew towards her. Danmaku… It wasn't a contest of strength or wit… It was… a battle of beauty, to see who could come up with the most beautiful pattern. The way the colours blended and the shapes they formed should dazzle their opponents to submission.

The Red-White told her this once and the Black-White mentioned that the most beautiful ones could only be made through one's feelings. For the Shrine Maiden, it was determination, for the Witch, it was love. Kyouko looked hard at the satori's pattern.

_Perhaps if you were to speak with the satori's sister, you will hear the same sob story as you have now... Gengetsu and Koishi Komeiji... Aren't that different you know?_

The feeling of Sadness.

_Mr. Hat keeps me relaxed._

She was all alone.

_Kyouko…_

The teal headed girl opened her eyes, the bullets were coming closer.

_Dreams are what we make them, hm? That needs your help, and you'll help her just as you aided the Winged One. Here… In this world… You're the one making the miracles… You're the heroine…_

"That's right," she muttered, her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to burst through her chest.

_Well what are you going to do now?_

The bullets were a mere thirty feet below her, it was now or never.

"I'm…. going…. to…" Kyouko inhaled a lungful of air before unleashing her trademark echo, _**"HELP HER!"**_

A powerful shockwave rocked the heavens as the Yamabiko put her heart and soul to that shout. Every bit of pain, suffering, sadness, and hopelessness she unleashed in that powerful blow. It pierced through the armada of bullets and erased anything that got into its path. It was like watching a concentrated tornado destroying everything on a single point.

Due to its sheer raw power, the shout had enough strength to pull the bullets surrounding it into its path, literally dragging them with it. She knew this wasn't real, she could never muster this kind of echo in real life, but then again, thinking back to what Koishi told her on her arrival to this world, it was possible because she simply thought of it.

_This is your dream so you can practically make anything possible!_

Kyouko simply wanted her voice to reach the broken satori.

An explosion signalled that her echo hit its mark, followed by another series of smaller explosion which meant that the other bullets also connected with the ground. The rest of the bullets far from her echo's path simply whizzed past her, doing her no harm. Closing her mouth, the echo faded away, yet the Yamabiko could still her own voice in her head. With one sloppy shake, she turned her attention towards the cloud filled earth and quickly descended.

The Dream Demon twins were still bound to the thick tendril yet it seemed like they had ceased struggling. They were too busy observing the hovering teal headed girl with either mixed emotions. As the smoke cleared, Koishi Komeiji was revealed to be still standing, two thick blue scaled shields covering her body. Transforming her shields back into her normal arms, she gazed at the approaching Kyouko with emotionless eyes. A hollow smile appeared on her lips as she moved forward.

_The Strongest Music turns into Silence! Cirno, kill the music!_

"You've been a very bad girl Kyouko," she rasped in the same sandpapery voice, "Monk lady isn't going to like this…"

The girl shook her head, much to the satori's confusion, "Let's just go home, Koishi-san."

"What?" Koishi retreated a step at the Yamabiko's words, "No… Mr. Hat…"

"Is right here," Kyouko pulled her hand from behind and presented a black hat with a wide rim, offering it to the hatless girl, "Well? Go on…"

The satori hesitated at first yet grasped the edge of the hat with utmost care, eventually taking it while gazing at it with wonder, "It's… the same…"

Kyouko heard something rustle behind her, only to find that the tendrils which tied the Dream Sisters were slowly dissolving into nothing. The two blondes floated gently to the ground as they watched the giant pillar of scales crumbles into fine powder. They turned their attention to the two youkais, their eyes widening as the teal headed girl hugged the satori.

"Back at the temple, there are a lot of good people," said Kyouko into the stunned Koishi's ear, "We have a lot of food, good company, and lots of spare rooms. Murasa could be annoying sometimes, and Mamizou could be a little shifty but everyone's all good. Nue has this cute tendency to pout when surprised, and playing danmaku with Kogasa is so much fun. Shou's a bit strict, but she's also clumsy and forgetful. Nazrin doesn't say much, yet she could be really talkative whenever you bring her information about treasures."

She felt the satori tremble within her grasp yet she held on, "Sometimes it could get really boring, reciting sutras every day and cleaning the yard, it hurts sometime on the knees and back yet it could also be fun. It's fun whenever the Red-White visits, it's fun when the Black-White comes to play, you should try Mystia's lamprey sometimes, it's really good you know… On Thursday nights, you could come with us on our gig and hear us sing. You could get the VIP seat while you watch. The temple's really fun, it's so full of life and people. There, no one would hate you; you wouldn't have to be alone."

There was something hot and wet seeping through the Yamabiko's shoulder, she could hear a faint sniffle behind her back. She kept her embrace firm as ever, "You could have everyone with you. You can even invite your sister. She and Lady Byakuren could talk and talk while you can play all you want. We'll welcome you when everyone shuts their doors in your face. We'll be there when you're hungry or cold, giving you a roof above your head or keeping you filled. You need to piece yourself back together, because I know… Someone, somewhere cares about you. And that person is just waiting for your return… You need to remember that you're not alone in this world."

Kyouko could feel her own tears filling up her eyes, eventually trailing down her cheeks as she spoke, "There are people waiting for you, Koishi…"

She placed her hands on the satori's shoulders and let go. The other girl had a blank expression on her face, yet hot tears also fell down from her cheeks. Her lips trembled while her hands shook as she held her hat. A second passed and Koishi finally found her voice, "Are you… sure..?"

"Most definitely!" chirped the Yamabiko with a smile. She then turned her head to the Dream Sisters who were watching the entire spectacle, "Ah! W-Wha… H-How long—?"

"Thank you," said Mugetsu, taking the teal headed girl's hands and shaking them, "Thank you for everything. I never quite expected you to be so… stubborn…"

Not sure if that was a compliment or an insult, the other girl replied, "Um, thanks?"

"I'm sorry," mumbled the elder Dream Demon, she did her best to avoid eye contact with the Yamabiko as she continued, "I'm sorry if… I messed with your head a bit. I'm really sorry, I'll never do it again, I promise. I'm ready to do anything you ask, just so you can forgive me… I've been really selfish and—"

"Ah! N-no! Th-there won't be any need for that!" cut in Kyouko while waving her hands. Having an all-powerful being like Gengetsu under her command was just asking for trouble, "R-Really! I mean, I've already forgiven you… All of you…"

She mostly directed the last part to the sniffling satori, still holding on the hat as if it was her life line. Koishi looked up and gave her a sheepish smile before hiding her face behind her hat.

"I see… I thank you once again, Kyouko Kasodani," the younger Dream Sister curtsied with gratitude. Straightening up, she nodded to her elder sibling as the two of them summoned a white portal with a flourish of their hands. A cold breeze greeted the four as the portal stretched its entrance wide, "Well… I think this is where we part. This should take you back to your own Dream plane; from there you would wake up and be back into the Waking World."

"Eh?" the Yamabiko looked towards Koishi while saying, "B-But what about you?"

"Miss Komeiji can make it back on her own," replied Gengetsu with a small smile, "Being the Queen of the Subconscious and all, it shouldn't be too hard."

"Besides…" muttered the satori, she held the teal headed girl's shoulder gently, "It was nice of you… to offer me a place to stay. What you said about your temple is true, Everything's fun and noisy, but… I'm not really the type to stay in one place… Thanks though… You won't even remember me after this…"

"What?" asked Kyouko in confusion and surprise, "but… Why?"

"Subconscious…" replied the satori with a knowing look, "I'll be always at the back of your mind…"

Gazing at the portal behind her, the Yamabiko released a heavy sigh, "We'll meet each other again, okay? The three of you…"

"Of course," said Koishi with a grin.

"We'll do our best to give you a nightmare free week," assured Mugetsu with a wave of her hand.

"We're here, always watching," promised Gengetsu with a smile of her own.

Nodding at her new friends, the teal headed girl charged into the portal, her vision going white.

* * *

"Kyouko!"

"Kyouko!"

"Gremlin!"

Waking up to a bunch of rowdy voices gathered around her, the girl in question sleepily opened her eyes to her friends' faces. Murasa, Shou, Ichirin, Mamizou, Unzan and Mystia surrounded her with haggard looks on their faces; it didn't look like they got enough sleep. Looking around, she found out that her room was a complete mess. Sake bottles and dishes were scattered about while various reading materials from the outside world were cast aside carelessly. For some odd reason, there was a rope lying at a corner as well a ball gag of some sort.

Just what were these people doing inside her room like this?

And then the hugging started. Shou was crying while Murasa kept hitting her over and over on the head. Ichirin was more content sobbing in relief at a corner while Unzan patted her back. Mamizou nodded in satisfaction as she drunk from her sake bottle. There were words of welcome and complaints on how worried she made them. Honestly, the Yamabiko couldn't feel anymore guilty than she did. They were worried sick over what happened. Just how long was she out to reduce them to this state?

"Murasa, Shou, get off!" barked Kyouko as she shoved the phantom and Tiger Youkai away. Her eyes rested upon the person trembling before her, wings shaking like mad. Mystia glared at her with tear filled eyes before pouncing on her for a wild hug. After fifty consecutive shouts of "Idiot" the night sparrow finally calmed down and exited the temple in an angry manner. The residents of the temple finally cleaned up and went back to their respective rooms.

A sigh escaped the Yamabiko as she set aside her broom. Frowning in confusion, she placed a hand under her chin as she noticed a second futon beside her own. There was something jogging at her memory ye tshe could quite place it. She remembered the Dream World, the illusions Gengetsu put her through. Yet it felt like…. Something was missing…

Dismissing it as something unimportant, she plopped herself into her futon and wrapped her blanket around her. Maybe it was time for her to have good dreams.

And so, another night comes to a close at the Myouren Temple.

…

….

…

Deep inside the meditation room, a certain monk was focusing.

"Ohmmm," went Byakuren, "Ohmmm… zzzzzz…."

And she's been like that for five hours already.

* * *

Elsewhere, Koishi Komeiji walked through Chireiden's vast corridors. The stained glass windows casting a purple light on the velvet floor as she passed by. It was cold here in the underground, seeing as the only source of warmth they had was the Hell of Blazing Fires which was miles away from her home. It was sure a long time since she went home, it was a miracle she could still remember the path leading towards her sister's study. The satori also noted the lack of pets running around tending to the mansion and such. Maybe it was because of the lateness of the hour, or maybe everyone was on a holiday.

It didn't matter seeing as she found a door left ajar, a faint orange light could be seen within.

Opening the door, a nostalgic warmth took over her. The air smelled of freshly baked cookies, it made Koishi's stomach hungry. Entering the room, she noticed how the orange flames danced merrily under the fire place, casting their bright light on the carpeted floor. She could hear deep breathing coming in front of one of the chairs. Orin, her sister's cat, was purring in her sleep just before the fire place. There was no sign of Okuu, so she must still be tending to the reactor's flames.

Going around one of the chairs, Koishi found her beloved sister sleeping peacefully with a book in her hand. There was still a bit of milk left in her glass along with some cookies at a silver plate. She stroked her elder sister's deep pink hair before caressing her cheek with a finger. Koishi smiled and walked away, coming back with a blanket in hand. She draped the fabric over her sister as to keep her warm. Kissing her elder sibling on the forehead, she went to the door and opened it. Looking back once and said, "I'll… be right back…"

With that, she went out, closing the door behind her. Unbeknownst to her, the elder Komeiji opened her eyes half way, bringing the blanket close to her face, "I'll be waiting… little sister."

* * *

_Nicolas Notes: *Is crying* I-I-I... I MISS YOU ALL!_

_I think it's about time I explained my ass long absence, ehehehe. Well you see, during the start of Febuary, I got hooked with a new fandom which caused my head to go haywire and formulate other stories aside from my Touhou ones. Thus, causing me to lose focus. I couldn't really write anything without the other ideas getting in the way. I'm just... moved to tears that I managed to finish this without focusing. NOT._

_Well, not exactly to tears but I'm very happy to be back where I belong. On another note, Kyouko-tan has managed to use the full advantage of being in the dream world, eh? I call that the "Kasodani Starlight Breaker" lol._

_There were various references here and there, one from a game that I love, one from a book we all know, and one from a video series I deeply love. There may be others, though it's up to you if you can find them._

_Updates will either be slower or faster depending on me. Once again, i have lost my schedule of which fic to work on and whatnot. Don't expect Laevateinn to be back yet, but I'll try as hard as I can to finish it._

_Well that's all for now, I'll see you guys in the next installment._

_YAHOO~_


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